Through Shadows
by chicogamer17
Summary: A young man is killed and thrown into Ferelden a few months before the Blight ravages the land. He has been given a gift to help him change the course of history, but what would a teenager from Earth know about surviving in a land where magic is real and getting yourself killed is just waiting around the corner? A Self Insert Fic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_I have been out of commission for a long time and trying to pick up the pace from my other stories was harder than I thought. I have written stories for Games of Thrones, another for DC comics, Bioshock, Legend of Korra, Skyrim, and Gears of War and strangely for Twilight. But every time I try and write these stories my word count gets less and less and now, I can barely break the 5k limit._

_I need a change of pace and after reading a ton of self-inserts, I decided to make this. I'm thinking of a series style for this idea. Hopefully this can help me get back to my old writing strength. This is like an exercise for my brain._

_Note that this story will have mentions of other games as well as the main character pulling things from other video games into this (Read to find out what I'm talking about :D)_

_I'm a fan of a lot of video games so some you may recognize (Because of its recent release) but others you may not._

_But hey, give it a try, you may like it._

_P.S. This was not beta'd so if you find anything wrong, be it small or big, just tell me and I will fix it. _

_Italicized sentences are thoughts_

"Normal speech"

**This story is written in first person POV.**

**XXXXXX**

So, long story short?

I died, rather painfully if I remember correctly.

The full version of my painful death is… well, why don't we start at the beginning? Not the very beginning where I was born, but rather the beginning of my day.

It started at ten in the morning. There was a convention in town that showcased video game, comic book, trading card and cosplay booths and activities. I was more interested in the video game booths since I had found out that big developer names were going to be there. Electronic Arts, Bethesda, Konami, Activision and THQ were some of the names I immediately recognised and there were even a few indie developers. The convention was going to be a three day event and my friends and I would be there the whole time, deciding to stay at a nearby hotel for the event. Luckily the con landed inside our week long term break so we didn't have to worry about any projects or thesis work.

Sounded like it would be a good weekend right?

Everything started to go bad when two of my friends cancelled because their offices calling them to work, the last one had to stay home for family matters. I didn't blame them, circumstances _were _unavoidable, but I was still pretty bummed out. I had to cancel reservations for the hotel since the four of us would split the bill and I couldn't pay the whole thing with my meagre college student's allowance. So aside from my friends having to do other stuff as well as the hour long commute from my house to the convention centre, the good times plan ended up being 'meh'. I would still enjoy the convention but without anyone to experience it with the experience would be dulled somewhat. What made it worse was that the event would probably be the only time I would get to see them with all of their props. A small downside to living in the Philippines I guess, not being able to experience a convention as grand as the one I always watch on the internet.

So there I was, going around the booths alone and sticking out like a sore thumb. The curse of tall people, me being six feet tall, and the movement of someone who was new to conventions in general made people turn and look at me. I wouldn't have felt so out of place with more people with me but everyone I invited had something better to do and the original group I had planned the outing with couldn't ignore their responsibilities to hang out with me. But I ignored everything around me and enjoyed everything as best as I could.

I must have missed something while I was looking through the video game booths because the next thing I knew, people were panicking all around me and smoke was slowly filling the building. I could hear people shouting that a fire had started in the building's power room and everyone was already making their way to the exit. The fire had eaten away at one of the temporary walls to separate the different areas of the convention and the sudden crash of the drywall caused an even greater panic as everyone started stampeding to the nearest exit.

Now usually, I was a lot faster on the uptake but I've never been in a situation as hectic as what I was experiencing now. The smoke coupled with everyone in a panic was making my head spin. Every moment I spent standing there and trying to make sense of the mess I found myself being pushed _back_ further into the building. I tried to make my way to the exits but found myself fighting against a wave of a thousand people pushing and pulling their way to safety.

I could already hear people screaming and yelling as the fire caught up with them and _oh god_ the smell! I was starting to feel the well of panic building up in the pit of my stomach and as I started to feel the **heat **from the flames, I also started to try and fight my way out of the burning building.

_Over here_

I turned at the sound, a whisper loud enough for me to hear over the screams of thousands of scared individuals. I didn't know why I suddenly stopped. I didn't know why I just stood there in the middle of a panicked crowd as the fire quickly caught up with us. But, over there! Through a path cutting safely across the burning booths and collapsing walls was someone…

_I know a way_

The heat from the fire was distorting the person so I couldn't get a clear view of whom or what the figure was, but I knew enough that it was a child. Something clicked _or snapped_ inside me. I turned on my heel and started to sprint and shove my way through the people. I didn't stop and think _what the fuck are you doing running into a fire like that?! Get out of here while you still can! _I never saw myself as the hero type of guy, but here I was. Thank god for the jacket I was wearing because if I hadn't decided to wear the thing, my arms would be burned horribly by now.

Adrenaline was probably dulling my senses because at this point, I couldn't feel the heat bearing down on me. I didn't think only acted. I ran through fire, leapt over collapsed metal support beams. I just kept running until the child was in front of me and I instantly wrapped my jacket around _her_ before spinning on the spot and looking back to where I came from.

And the roof suddenly decided to fuck with me as it collapsed into the path.

Well shit, things went from worse to no chances of survival.

I should have never left my bed this morning.

As the sudden realization of _I am going to die a slow and painful death_, I felt a pair of small, cold hands touch both of my cheeks. I had almost forgotten about the child! _Shit, the parents would be devastated! _I looked down at the child and tried to put on a smile and try to reassure that we would be able to escape the inferno. Even now I could feel the heat of the fire circling and slowly closing in on us. I looked down and was met by blood red eyes… wait…

_**Got you**_

**XXXXXX**

I woke up.

It was dark and the only thing I could hear was the sounds of crickets. Was I back at home? Was all of that just a dream? I slowly sat up and looked around. I couldn't make out anything. There was literally no light and my eyes were having difficulties trying to focus enough so that I could see just a few feet in front of me.

This wasn't my room.

Did I die in the fire? Was all of that real? Where was I? The sounds around me suddenly hushed. My ears rang from the lack of sound and it was scaring me so much that _my hands are shaking_.

I'm not alone.

Then I saw her, as if the shadows were just waiting to part, walking out of the darkness. It was the kid I saved at the fire. She was maybe six years old, wearing a black, metal collared coat over a blood red dress and blood red stockings. Her hair was bright blond, almost platinum and was cut just above her shoulders. She looked familiar to me and I could have sworn I saw her from somewhere before. But… no… That's not possible, right?

"I have been looking for someone brave, and stupid enough to fall for my trap. And finally, here you are!" The child I assumed to be Manah from the video game _Drakengard_, one of my PS2 favourites, said to me as she paced in front of me. She had a knowing smile, _weird to look at on a child's face_, and looked at me like I was a new toy to play with. And from what she had said, I probably was a new toy for her to play with.

_Please tell me this is a self-insert! This would be totally awesome. Please tell me this is a self-insert!_

"Do you know where you are?" She said as she looked up to me. Her head had craned back a full ninety degrees since I was six feet tall. I was probably three times her height. I was so excited about the possible situation I was in that I blurted out what I was thinking.

"I was chosen, either by chance or fate, to help balance or save an alternate dimension. Either that or I was chosen to prove how awesome humans are! OR, maybe you're an all-powerful god-like being pulling in random people and throwing them into random video game dimensions just for shits and giggles!" I must have said something right since her smile widened greatly. Then I _was _right! I am officially living a self-insert! I should be worrying about what happened to me back on my dimension, but why look at the downside! I am about to be thrown into a game that I… hopefully… played before. I was about to meet characters that I played as or played with! I was video game fan boy geeking out right at the moment but I couldn't help the shivers going up and down my spine. Who could honestly say they had gone through what I was about to go through now? _Well, ok, the other fan fiction writers' count and all, but not everyone can say they were thrown into a video game!_

By this point I was dancing and fist pumping like a madman and I didn't care that Manah was laughing and dancing with me.

The voice at the back of my mind kept reminding me to worry about what had happened back at the convention centre and about the family and friends I had left behind. This was overpowered by a louder voice screaming _YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE IN A VIDEO GAME FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE. CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?!_

"I see that you already know what situation you were pulled into, good. This speeds things up quite a bit! Now then, unlike anything you have read on the internet, I am a considerate being and shall grant you one power to help you through your adventures." Manah stepped to the side to reveal dozens of floating, golden goblets behind her. I stepped up to inspect them and found out that they were each filled with a liquid substance of differing colours and textures. One of them even looked like it was filled with lava! I guessed that they represented an element of some kind, _meaning I'd be in a game where magic plays a big role_, and Manah confirmed it when I asked her. Some of them were your run of the mill basic elements: wind, water, earth and fire. Some were the 'cooler' elements like lightning, acid, poison and blah. But the one goblet that caught my interest, the last one in the line was filled with a black substance that had the consistency of maple syrup. I had a good guess as to what it was but still asked Manah on what it was.

"You already know what it is and it will be counterproductive of me to say otherwise, but yes. If you choose this goblet and drink from it then you shall have the power over **Darkness**. It is the strongest and yet the weakest power to be a master of. It has no form: Neither solid, liquid nor gas. Shaping it for your use will be quite easy. Light can be your closest ally or your worst nemesis. With enough practice, you can change the shadows and the darkness into any weapon you can come up with."

"Fucking sweet, thanks!" So I drank from the goblet until everything was gone. There was no time for hesitation since I wanted to get out of this dark place and go exploring!

I thought that something cool and action movie-like to happen. A flash of light, a chorus from heavenly singer's maybe? But all that happened was a slight shiver that caused the darkness around me to slither in place. It was kinda cool but I thought something more would happen. Something extravagant and over the top would be cool…

I looked back to Manah and saw a _portal_-esque… portal behind her. At the other side I saw was a lush forest and in the distance I could see a village bordered by a stone-carved highway. As the excitement died down and the reality of what I was getting myself into settled, I finally had enough sense to ask the really important questions.

"Hey, why am I here anyways? What's the point in sending me in to help the protagonist? Do you want me to change things or make sure they stay the same? Out of all the people you can get from my dimension, why me? What makes me so special? Why do you look like Manah, anyways?"

"Manah was a six year old girl who controlled an empire through power and fear. She was the high priestess of a cult that worshipped beings called _The Watcher's_. Her background and mine are notso different. In my mortal life, I was a high priestess to a religion that worshipped god-like beings. Aside from that, I chose a form you would recognise. As for why I chose you? Out of every soldier, every scientist, every extraordinary human out there, only a few have what I look for."

I raised an eyebrow at her before nodding to make her continue. She only smiled before pushing me into the portal. I was too surprised by her strength to try and stop her but had enough sense to roll with the force and ended up in a low crouch.

"Do whatever you want in this world! Experience what consequences your actions cause, create another ending for this dimension, cause chaos, and seize the throne for all I care! But whatever you do, I want you to make a mark in history!" The portal was slowly closing around her and it would have been stupid to try and dive back in. What was the point in that? Before the portal fully closed, Manah took something behind her and threw them to me. I easily caught them and saw they were gauntlets with clawed fingers. "Don't lose those! Those gauntlets are the only way you can harness your powers!"

You know if I hadn't played games like The Darkness I and II, _and maybe prototype? Not necessarily darkness per se but a weapon that could theoretically take any shape and form what the user thinks of? Yeah, the Black light various could be considered as a Darkness element as far as I was concerned._ I would probably be a bit pissed since I didn't know or have played games that used _Darkness_ as weapons but I was a very imaginative guy so I could have probably figured things out eventually, probably.

"And use an Alias! Don't use your real name!" A weird request/order but I could handle that. I was known for going with the flow and this time wasn't so different. You know, except this time things were a million times cooler. I put on the gauntlets and was amazed by how light and smooth they were. Plus they looked super badass. With that last thought, the portal closes with a soft _hiss _and I am left alone in the forest.

Ok, let's be serious for a moment here. Now I didn't know where I was so that's the first thing I need to figure out. When the where is answered all others will be answered as well, like what game am I in and all that shiz. My strongest weapons right now are these gauntlets, _which I am guessing acts as either my wand or staff_, and the knowledge I have of whatever game I'm in.

I'll probably spend an hour or two in the forest to try and get a hang of my powers before even thinking of exploring. I was in an unfamiliar place-_for now_- and armed with a weapon I had no idea in using-_for now - _so it was probably a good idea to try and figure out what I can and cannot do. I could remember that Mana and stamina were _probably _the same thing since the characters in the video game would get tired if the bar empties. I wouldn't' have to worry too much about that though. I mean I was a part of my colleges _Judo _varsity team and I trained from Monday to Friday every week. But it was better to test out my limits now rather than finding out in the middle of a fight.

_It would really suck if I had to chase down someone but couldn't attack them since I was too fucking tired. Maybe I should learn how to use a weapon? What did this place have anyways, guns, swords or what?_

I pushed those thoughts to the back of mind before putting on the gauntlets. The inside was lines with a cloth of some sort and was surprisingly comfortable. Should I be in physical contact with the shadows to be able to manipulate them or I could just wave my hands around like a maestro and they would just respond to my will?

I tested out the physical contact test and imagined the shadows following my hand as I brought it to half my height. The shadows stuck to my hand as it obeyed my will. It was a strange feeling to actually _hold_ a shadow. It felt cold and moist but nothing stuck to my skin or the gauntlets. I thought of making the shadow more solid and it responded easily enough, forming the hilt of a sword in the process. I pulled the hilt out and the shadows that were still connected to the ground came with it. Only the hilt was solid though and the blade part looked like a flame as it drifted with the wind. I thought of solidifying the blade and instantly I could see the progress of the solidification as if it were being frozen. A few moments passed by before I held a short sword in hand? It was cool but featureless and aside from the obvious shape of the sword, there were no other defining features. It was as sharp as I imagined it would be, enough so that I could easily hack off medium sized branches with enough force but still not enough to easily slice a tree in half, but I attributed that to my own strength rather than the blades sharpness.

So far, I didn't even feel tired, although I was sweating a bit, but it could have been from the noon sun bearing down on the clearing that I was in. I reformed the sword into a bow and one arrow and took aim at a tree that was at least three meters away. It was wide enough to not miss-_I only did learn archery just for the hell of it_- and I quickly sent the shadow arrow flying through the air.

It splashed and broke apart on the bark like a cheap water balloon and I immediately thought that my powers couldn't handle range that well? Or maybe I didn't will it to be solid enough? After dismissing the shadow bow in my hand, it slithered back to where I had obtained it. I bent down and pulled it back up again but this time, willed the shadow to become a spear. And now I was holding a three foot long spear. It felt solid enough so I tried throwing it at the same tree but unsurprisingly missed. It _did _stick to the ground though but when I lost my focus it dissipated again before slithering back. I didn't really mind so long as it causes some damage.

Now I needed to try something more complex. I looked down and held a hand over my own shadow, willing it to shoot up into my hand. I felt resistance this time, like what you feel when you stick out your hand out of a car window when you're going down the highway really fast. I concentrated on my shadow more and thought harder, screaming in my mind for it to shoot up into my hand. Progress was slow, but sure enough the shadow was slowly rising into the air. I could only get it about halfway before the feeling of breathlessness made me stop.

Ok, so first obstacle discovered. I could control shadows without touching them but it was harder to do. Practice could probably make it easier for me later on. For now, I'd stick with making physical contact to try and _craft _various weapons.

After maybe an hour and thirty minutes of testing, _according to my watch which thankfully followed me to this different dimension_, I found out that I could shape the shadows into guns as well but they were rather useless since I couldn't replicate bullets or even gunpowder from the shadows. Any shadow would do and it didn't matter how wide it was. Light did make my creations weaker. I had recreated the shadow sword and was swinging it at a tree. The sun was still high up in the air and after a dozen full powered swings; the blade reverted back to its flame like state when it made contact with the tree trunk. It then turned solid again once it passed through the trunk.

I even thought up of ranged attacks like what _Alex Mercer _would do in Prototype (_the ground spikes_), but found the same resistance when I tried to will the shadows to form into vertical spikes. I even tried it with physical contact on a nearby shadow and tried to will the shadow across from where I was crouched to explode upwards but the resistance slowed it down too much for it to be dangerous. Hopefully it would become easier with practice.

At the second hour mark, _I had to rest up for thirty minutes since my muscles started to ache_; I decided to craft my own set of armour. I wanted to have a badass set of armour and the first thing I thought of was the Didact's armour from _Halo 4, shout out to 343 industries by the way for making an awesome continuation,_ with its cool Forerunner design and floating pieces that could interlock together to make a set of _Badass_ armour. I could replicate the floating pieces bit but that would probably tire me out faster. I should also probably wear armour underneath that and just layer the thing with my shadows because unless I was fighting at night, then the sunlight would make my armour weak enough for anyone to cut through it like it was wet paper. _I wonder if I could make the eyes or certain areas glow on my armour. Hm, probably not though, for now I'd just wear the jeans and shirt I've been wearing ever since getting pulled into a video game from the burning convention centre._

The finished product was just as I imagined it and was light as a feather but at the same time solid enough for at least a slight degree of protection. And by the way, _yes it looked quite awesome_. Only other downside I could think of was that I did not have enough experience to maintain the armour form. I had to keep concentrating for it to stay that way and that wouldn't do, especially if I was in the middle of a battle. _Maybe when I can scrape enough money together, I could commission a real set of the Didact's armour and just layer it with shadows. Double protection and stuff_

How would I do that anyway, the fighting and killing? I've never had training with a sword, only a passing knowledge in using a bow. I can defend myself with my training in Judo, but that's it. How do I even go about _killing_? Shit, this was going to be harder than I thought. I wish Manah at least _trained _me the skills I'd need to survive _god knows where_.

So with that done, I made my way towards the village in the distance, armour on my person. The strange feeling of coldness and moistness of the shadows was keeping me cool from the sun which I was grateful for and pretty soon without stopping to rest, I was near the village. It was a good thing to since I was starting to feel hungry.

Oh wait, I didn't have any money! At least useable money, as I would think people here would not accept Philippine pesos. Maybe I could steal some money, or just the food? But I've never stolen any money before and I wasn't exactly the sneaking type of guy, what with my six foot height and hundred kilo weight? _Psh, in my dreams_.

I could see the people in the village now and they were all _quite _filthy, with the smell of shit everywhere. Was this what it was like to live in the medieval ages? Without indoor plumbing, I could literally see people throwing out their shit and piss out of their houses and into the streets. Bystanders would just move out of the way without any fuss.

As I came into the town proper, I could see that everyone near enough to see me just stop dead in their tracks and look at me as if I was some kind of demon. I probably looked like one too and the intimidation factor of my height over them was helping with that.

I actually didn't mind the fearful looks since this would lessen the chance of anyone trying to rob me. There was a sign on a post to my left. In flowing script;

**Welcome to Lothering**

Wait…

I'm in Dragon Age?

Well, I never did finish _Origins _so I guess I could tag along with the Hawkes…

Wow, I am taking this dimension hopping really well. I Hope that holds up right until the part where I mentally break down some time in the future. Anyways, right now Lothering was filled with people and at the outskirts of town were hundreds of tents. The atmosphere was intense in and outside the village. Everyone actually jumped in fright by the mere sight of my _badass _armour. There were soldiers passing through the _Imperial Highway_ and the bandits that you would see in the beginning of the game after the betrayal at Ostagar had not set out the roadblock yet.

So that means I'm probably starting at the introduction of the first game, where players would be introduced to the backstory of their chosen characters. Not going to bother following the soldiers since I'd probably be the first unlucky bastard to get killed by Darkspawn. I know that the Hawke siblings would be fighting the horde before hightailing it back here to save Leandra and Bethany from the advancing Darkspawn horde.

Damn it, if I was sent maybe a few years back, maybe I could have built up a power base in Ferelden, maybe make a few allies and all. I would change the outcome of _Origins_ entirely, warning the king of the betrayal as well as trying to save and change other stuff. Buuut, since I was at Lothering, maybe a few days or hopefully weeks before shit goes down I would make nice with the Hawke family. I always loved Bethany in Dragon Age 2, but hated the fact that there was no way she would be able to join your party after the Deep Roads Expedition mission.

Ok, now I have an agenda.

First, I will accompany the Hawkes to Kirkwall. I will befriend Leandra and Bethany here, in Lothering, and will follow them in their splendiferous adventures.

Two, I would bitch-slap the _shit _out of Bartrand for being a grade A Douche, with a capital _D_.

Three, when I accompany Hawke into the Deep Roads, _somehow_, I will make sure no one gets tainted by any Darkspawn. I will also collect pieces of Red Lyrium to graft onto my armour to complete the Didact's armour, _woot_.

Four, I will try and… uh… stop the Qunari from waging war against Kirkwall.

Five, I will try and stop the Templars and Mages from killing each other.

I'll make more through time. For now though, I should probably start walking again since I've been standing still for the past ten minutes and the village guards were actually starting to approach me. Shit, better go before-

"Halt stranger! What business do you have in Lothering?"

- I get stopped. Shit, now I'm going to get arrested. Fucking shit fuck. Quick, think of some bullshit excuse! I've lied plenty of times before so this would be a piece of cake!

"I am just a weary traveller looking for a quiet place to rest, good sir." Aw yeah, channelling my _Lord of the Rings _to speak medieval style. "I'm not looking for trouble."

The guards look at one another before the leader spoke again, "You could have fooled us stranger, what with that armour and all," _Ok maybe it was a bad decision to wear the Badass armour into the village but fuck logic. Badass is still badass, _"But why would you travel here of all places? The Blight has reached the old fortress at Ostagar and King Cailan has amassed an army to fight off the incoming Blight. The only reason people would go here would be because they are escaping the Darkspawn or _going_ to fight them." _Sheesh this guy could talk, can't they just leave me in peace?_

"I don't plan on fighting the Darkspawn nor am I a refugee. I travel wherever the roads take me, be they to the highest mountain or the deepest ocean." There, hopefully that would shut this guy up.

The leader probably caught on to my irritated tone of voice since he held up both his hands in a none-threatening gesture, "I meant no offense in my questioning stranger. Lothering is quite full with the sudden influx of soldiers and refugees coming from the south. The inns and pubs have already been converted into shelters and the Chantry has also been filled up. Unless you have the coin, no one would take you in."

I tried to casually wave off his warning before speaking again. I had to get in and look for the Hawkes and make sure that I follow them to Kirkwall. "Do not worry about my wellbeing guardsman; I am fully capable of taking care of myself." It looked like the guards were _finally _going to let me pass as their stiff stances relaxed.

"Very well, but remember that you have been warned. The people of Lothering are tired and afraid so do not expect kindness." With that final warning, they walked back into the village with me going near the farms just a ways away from the refugee camp. They never did explain in the game what the Hawkes life were in Lothering. Did they own the pub? Did they own the farm you see in the game, _Lothering was actually bigger now that I was seeing it in person_, or were they just your everyday villager?

Whatever, it was a good time as any to go look for them… Right after I find something to eat. But first, I need money. Actually, now that I know that I'm in Lothering I remember that there were quest boards near the Chantry, named the Chanter's Board, and that the minimum reward was one sovereign, _one gold piece_. One sovereign was a hundred pieces of silver and one silver was a hundred copper pieces. _One sovereign would be more than enough to fill my belly._

That was actually a good place as any to find a quick job for quick cash. Maybe the chanters could even tell me where the Hawkes lived?

With that in mind, I turn around and head to the building that kinda looked like a temple/church.

I decided to retract my helmet back into pieces that would float over my shoulders and the act of doing so caught a lot of attention. Whatever, not like I cared about _their _opinion. All that mattered was finding the Hawkes before Ostagar falls.

Just like in the game, The Chanters board was placed right in front of the staircase that would lead up the Chantry. Chanter Devons was standing right beside it, just like in the game and when I inquired about accepting one of the jobs on the board, he smiled at me and was happy to note that there were still good souls out in the world who would be willing to help those in need. _I'm doing it for the money_ was what I wanted to say but whatever.

So the first job I took was a kind of _Search and Rescue_ type deal. I was to find Lady Sarha who had been missing for a few days now. The husband was a total wreck when I came to him and asked where she usually went to during the day. She had gone out to collect some herbs in the surrounding forests but never came back. The next day the husband had posted on the Chanter's board, willing to reward anyone fifty silver _if _they find his wife.

Good thing I could still, _vaguely, _remember that you could find Sarha's body on a 'grassy rise' just north of Lothering. The walk to the hill took me about ten minutes in a brisk pace and finding the body, _which was getting chewed on by fucking wolves! Oh shit, I'm going to puke!_ The wolves hear me retching and the sudden appearance of fresher and _bigger _prey attracted the attention of the whole pack.

"Fuck no; you're not getting any of this!" I quickly reach for my shadow and just like how I practiced in the woods, I willed the shadows of the wolves to spike _upwards_. Some of them were lucky enough to dodge before the shadow spike bifurcated them, but most had already ran towards me. _Did I forget to mention that once I…? I guess you can call it possessing? Once I possess a shadow it becomes stationary, it can't follow the body that it came from. How does that even work? I have no fucking clue whatsoever. How did I test this out in the forest? One word; bunnies_

The wolves were coming in fast and extending my right arm in front of me, I reshaped the gauntlet I wore into a shield big enough to cover my whole front and when the wolves decided that they wanted to dog pile me, _meaning they tried to pounce on me_, the smooth surface of the shield turned into spikes. I could _hear _the wolves suffering and dying but so long as I didn't _see _the gore I was dandy. I can't do anything about the _smell _though, ugh.

My helmet clicks back into place to block out the smell and I drop the shield, _along with the pincushions that were once wolves, _before approaching Sarha's body.

And here enters my first crisis… _I mean shit, in the game you just take something off of her body before returning to Lothering. But, seeing her _in person_ makes you stop and think. This was someone's wife, someone's mother! She was just out one day when she was suddenly attacked by wolves! I am truly happy that I was never born during the medieval time because, who wants to live in a time where you had to throw your shit out of the window and worry about this kind of bullshit happening? _I should bury her, out of respect to the person that she was.

The shadow her body makes starts to slither, before eating away the dirt. Slowly, Sarha's body was lowered into a six foot deep hole. Before closing it I grabbed Sarha's ring. Saying a little prayer for her soul and kicking the dead wolves a few more time, I made my way back to Lothering.

And I was one sovereign richer! Deal with the ups and downs one step at a time.

Now that I had money, I went straight to the pub. I decided to ditch the armour for now and it slithered into a new form. The cloak wasn't too eye catching and I didn't want anyone approaching me and challenging me, if ever. I've seen the movies, I know some assholes would want to try and show up the toughest guy in the place so that people could see that they were the shit. When it comes down to it I could fight them off, but if they had weapons I'd probably get screwed badly. My shadows would see to it that I won in the end, but doing so in a crowded pub with Templars everywhere was not a particularly bright idea.

So I go in the pub, ignore the hostile stares going my way and sit right in front of the bar. The barmaid manning the counter looks at me strangely for a split second before smiling and asking, "What can I get for you serrah?" The barmaid sounded kind enough so I decided to be kind as well. No use pissing off the person responsible for cooking the food, _don't want her putting in something special in the food_.

I smile back at her before asking what food and drinks they served here and gave me a full list. In the end I decided on a loaf of bread, a few slices of ham and two wedges of cheese. I washed it down with at least two cups of freshly squeezed juice of some kind, _tasted citrusy_, and all it cost was sixty a silver piece and forty copper.

After paying and saying my thanks, I went to the blacksmith and asked how much would it cost me if I commissioned an armour set I had put on again. The blacksmith replied that it would depend on the material I wanted it made from. I asked how much it would cost me if I made one in White Steel or Volcanic Aurum, _the top two strongest metals in Dragon Age if I remembered correctly_, and the smith just quirked an eyebrow at me before saying, "I don't know why you would want another set of identical armour like the one you're wearing now, but unless you have five hundred sovereigns on you right now then any smith worth his metal will not make it for you." _Holy shit, it would cost five hundred gold pieces for a commissioned set of armour? What for one set for both? I hope glitches worked here like they worked in the game because I don't think I'd see that much money in a long time!___"What material was used in your current set, if you don't mind me asking serrah?"

"Oh this," I asked nonchalantly as I raised a gauntlet into the sunlight that streamed through the roof. The light didn't reflect off of it as expected and the blacksmith looked twice as intrigued when he saw this. Come to think of it, this would actually make perfect armour during sneaking or night time missions. Not only was it able to not reflect light but was also soundless. Don't believe me? Answer me this then; what sound does a shadow make?

Yeah, that's called _science_.

"A metal the Qunari named 'Umbra'. It's rare outside of Par Vollen."

"You've been to the Qunari home land? How did you get ashore, much less collect enough material to make that armour? No outsider is allowed in Par Vollen!" I couldn't resist the temptation. With a though, the pieces that hovered around my shoulders came to life and clicked back into place, reassembling back into the skeletal-like visage of the Didact's helmet.

"I can be very persuasive," I say simply before turning around and leaving the smith alone in his shop. _Aw Yeah, that's a sure plus fifty in reputation! Badass meter just went up a notch._

Now that the sub quests are done for now, I should move on with the storyline. With a pocket full of coins and a belly full of food, I set off to find the Hawke family-

-And bumped right into Bethany just outside the smithy. Before she could fall flat on her ass, I managed to snatch her hand. I was careful not to cut her with the clawed tips of my gauntlets of course. Bethany hadn't registered that she was saved yet because both eyes were still closed shut, waiting for the inevitable splat of mud and piss and shit, _the roads were dirt and was filled with human and non-human waste_, which never came. She opened her beautiful, amber coloured eyes to lock onto my helmet covered eyes. I could feel her tense up in fear before she quickly recovered her footing.

"That-Thank you, serrah. I would have gotten soiled if you hadn't caught me." Bethany sounds just like she did in the game. What was also weird was how she looked exactly like she did in the game. I mean, I thought that video game and real world would have a few changes but no, she looked exactly the same. I let the helmet open, _just the face plate_, and smiled kindly at her. At least I think I did a kind smile.

"No need to thank me, my lady. I was the one who ran into you and for that, you have my apologies." I gave her a slight bow but this seemed to make her panic a bit more.

"There's no need for that Messere! Just out of principle, I should be the one saying sorry…" She was wringing her hands together and was just generally looking both adorable and sexy at the same time. _Damn it, focus here!_

_Also, note that she called me Messere. A title which usually means that the person thinks you are a higher status than them, for your information_

I chuckle a bit before letting the whole helmet retract from my head. "That's kind of you to think that, but I'm not a knight, Templar or noble. Just…" _Think of a fake name quickly, Manah said not to use my real name, _"Call me Vasili or if you prefer; Vas." _Sheesh, I am just pulling every other game into this little adventure aren't I? I'm probably going to start saying: _Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?

"O-oh, I didn't realize. You just talk like a noble, is all?" She seemed to relax quite a bit since she thought I was not someone who would turn her in because she was an apostate. "I'm Bethany by the way, Bethany Hawke." She offered a dainty hand for a handshake, but instead of shaking her hand too, I used the charming/flirty route and took her hand carefully in mine before kissing her knuckles.

"A pleasure to meet you, Bethany," I say, noticing the slight blush that powdered her cheeks. _Oho, nice going Casanova, didn't know you had it in you!_ Before I could make nice with her a bit more, a voice behind me called out to Bethany. Both of us turned, _I did the turning_, to see the Hawke Matriarch walking towards us.

Although the game portrayed Leandra Hawke ne Amell as a woman who was probably thirty of forty years old, in the 'real world' version she looked much younger, although she still had grey hair.

"Bethany, there you are! I've been… looking for… you…" I guess she just noticed me now because she stopped dead in her tracks to just stare at me. I gave her a friendly wave with my clawed gauntlet.

"Hello," I say to her.

"Good day serrah," Leandra quickly replies before turning to her daughter. "Come along Bethany. I've received word from your sister and brother."

_Uh oh, was this the start of the running away from Lothering because of the Darkspawn bit?_

"Oh, have they arrived at Ostagar safely?" Bethany asks hopefully, clutching both her hands together.

"Why don't we read their letter together… in private?" At this she gives me a pointed look and I have the distinct feeling that she did not like me that much. Didn't know why though, I was adorable.

"Yes, well, uhm, it was nice to meet you Vasili. Are you just passing through or are you staying a while in Lothering?" She asks in that adorable and sexy way of hers that's just so! I have the urge to just hug her but that will probably not go so well. I smile at her before my helmet assembles back into place.

"We'll see," I say to her mysteriously, _it's cliché but I love doing that_, before turning around and walking towards the local inn. Hopefully the manager could be persuaded by a few silver pieces to give me a room or even just a bed, I wasn't picky.

**XXXXXX**

So, funny thing happened when I got my room in the inn. Remember when I thought I could handle the strain of going through the whole day with my _Badass _armour on and for _some _reason I didn't feel tired at all? Apparently it stacks up throughout the day and once I relinquish all of my control over the shadow I'm poof! Out like a light, face first in the hard as stone bed.

I woke up a few moments later back in the dark void I had met Manah in and lo and behold, there she was sitting in mid-air. She wasn't in her six year old body anymore but had transformed into her twenty-something self we see in _Drakengard 2_. She smiles at me when I make eye contact and she was the first one to speak.

"Now, what have we learned on our first day in _Thedas_?"

I giggle a bit, _that's right I giggled_, before sitting in mid-air with her. The act wasn't so hard to do especially in a place made out of darkness. I actually felt more powerful now than I did a few hours ago. "My power is only limited to my imagination? Shit, if you gave half the people I know with this kind of power we would rule the world!" I laugh at that actually, we _would_, "Aside from that though I know that the more I use my powers the more tired I get. Using my powers in direct daylight will diminish its strength. And I just found out that maintaining the armour form throughout the day is a bad thing."

"I want to add a few things to add to what you already know. The more detailed a weapon is the more powerful and stronger it becomes while the less accurate it is makes it last longer."

"And how does that mechanic work exactly?" I ask her sarcastically, but she ignores it.

"At night, or in complete darkness, your power is _absolute_. But! A light source bright enough can destroy your control."

"You Aare making me really powerful aren't you? Why is that, usually in things like these I have to become powerful, I have to earn my strength. But you, you're giving them to me in a silver platter! Won't I change things too much, alter the course of things too much from its intended path?"

"Foolish boy," Manah actually laughs in my face at this point. Like really just a few inches away from my face and she was bawling her eyes out, "This is not an adventure where you 'find who you really are'! I need a puppet that can change history, not some nineteen year old boy lost in the big bad world!"

"Then why the fuck did you choose me, then?! I've never been in a life or death battle before, I've never killed!" The stress from this whole mess came crashing down on me, from the fear and stress I suffered through in the convention centre to the fact that I was taken from my home and thrust into another dimension.

"I have taken care of that as well."

"What do you mean? You can't just change something like that on a whim!" It would have been better if she reacted angrily as well, maybe then I would have stopped shouting. Her cool responses and indifferent look just kept riling me up.

"I _can't_? You forget who I am and what I can do. I have changed, or rather heightened, a part of your mind that deals with high stress situations. Just like your tournaments, you enter a state where a majority of your actions is through muscle memory. You act and do and only after a fight does the fatigue get to you. In this case, when you find yourself in a situation of whether you will _kill or be killed _you will enter that state. You will act and do everything in your skills and power to survive and only after all the threats are dead and gone do you feel the ramifications of your action." She notes my shocked expression and smiles at me, "Think of this as a gift rather than a burden. You don't have to worry about hesitating when you find yourself _in _a situation like that and only after, do you feel the psychological strain of killing."

"Spin it anyway you like. That's more of a fucking curse!"

"Your opinion of what I give you does not matter. I am giving you the tools to reshape the course of history in this dimension and the histories of other dimensions. And last advice? Keep exhausting yourself like this. It will build up your 'Mana pool' much faster. Think of it like muscle failure training."

_Wait, what did she mean other dimensions? _"What do you mean 'other dimensions'?" I ask her aloud, my anger slowly dissipating.

"You'll see soon enough, my puppet. Now as your generation so eloquently phrased it _stop being a pussy and man up!_"

I woke up

**XXXXXX**

Were all the god-like beings trained to be assholes? I mean, I've read self-inserts portrayed them like this but damn. Manah was a Bitch!

I slowly sit up from my rented bed and look around the room. To my left was an old, rough wooden night stand. Silver and copper coins covered the surface. To my right were the window and a chair in front of it. My plain white shirt with the Didact's symbol,_ I'm a Halo fan boy so sue me_, spread over the back of it. I still wore my jeans but my socks and rubber shoes were at the foot of the bed.

Standing up from the bed, I walked towards the chair and lifted the shirt up to my nose. It didn't stink for some reason and still smelled and felt like it was newly washed. A careful sniff of my socks had the same results. That was weird.

I put the shirt and socks and shoes back on before deciding to just manifest boots over my shoes as well, _I may have forgotten to take off the gauntlets_, before finally creating a cloak around my form. Wearing full armour was cool and all, but I could do without the staring for a day.

_Ok, things to do today:_

_Get more money, meaning get another job from the Chanter's Board._

_Get closer to the Hawke family._

_Get information about the battle in Ostagar._

With that final thought I went down to eat breakfast before leaving the inn. I headed straight towards the board and Chanter Devons smiled my way as I plucked one of the posters off the wall. The poster detailed the recent bandit attacks on the refugee camps and a concerned Templar, one Ser Bryant, asked any brave soul to deal with them. Since refugee camps were out of Lothering's boundary, the guards were not obligated to risk their lives for them. Had no idea why the Templars didn't help them.

So my idea was to just scare them off, I mean it worked with the rest of the villagers it would work with a few medieval bullies right? So once I enter the mercenary camp that was settled deep in the surrounding forest and manifested my awesome _Badass _armour. The bandits reacted worse than I thought and charged right at me with weapons drawn.

The next few moments, a sort of calm had settled over my mind. The sounds of the forest dulled and my vision tunnelled to focus on the closest bandit. I reacted and moved how I was trained, throwing the first bandit over my shoulder before sweeping off another bandit off of his feet. I spun quickly to dodge an overhead swing but the bastard managed to slice through my right pauldron. It was enough to scatter the shadows and now my shoulder was bare. I turned to grab his still outstretched arm and over exerted a standing arm lock, breaking his elbow. With that, I go through the rest. I can't explain it, but it's as if the shadows I came into contact with pushed me in the right direction, whether it was to dodge or to move onto my next opponent. It was as if the shadows had a mind of their own and were helping me survive the fight. It was kinda easy since they never encountered someone who fought like me,_ with judo_, and my strange moves were confusing them to the point of them hesitating.

At the end, after a heart pumping five minutes of dodging and throwing, I was able to beat the four bandits. I had acquired a few light wounds, nothing to worry or seek medical attention for. The bandits had it worse since they did not have the benefit of falling on the relatively-soft-once-you-get-used-to-it tatami mats we used back at our dojo. The bandits fell on hard, compacted dirt and some were unlucky enough to fall on the exposed tree roots around us. Since they didn't know the proper way to break their fall, some tried to stop it with outstretched arms only resulting in them dislocating their shoulders or breaking their arms, the_ usual injury one sustains when one does not know how to fall properly in judo_. I used the rope that I found in their camp to tie them together, _finally some use in the mandatory Boy Scout lessons I had back in high school! _I proceeded to haul them back to Lothering.

When I handed them to the guards and was given my reward, _another sovereign_, I was happy that I didn't need to kill anyone. If this non-kill thing can keep up, maybe I can live through this still relatively sane. Whatever that upgrade Manah did to my brain was actually useful and found myself mentally thanking the Bitch. I wandered the village until I saw Bethany sneaking around a few patrolling Templars. If you weren't looking for her, you probably would have not seen her. Did she really live like this her whole life? Were the Templars able to tell whether a person was a mage or not? I can't remember anything I've read that covers that certain topic. But whatever, I position myself in front of her path and when she sees me; Bethany doesn't hesitate to link her arms around mine and proceed to drag me to the nearest merchant stand. Interesting enough, it was a trinket merchant.

"Please play along, serrah!" She whispers hurriedly as I spot the Templars rounding a corner and walking down the road we were in.

"Oh, that necklace looks quite lovely Vas! Would you buy it for me?" _Oh man, this is movie and or video game material right here! Now play it cool and follow her lead_.

"Anything for you, Beth," I say with a smile as I turn to the merchant. She just looks at us amusedly before telling me how much the ordinary silver trinket was before I picked it up and looked over the thing. As the Templars passed by us, Bethany heaves a sigh of relief before letting go. She looks at me kindly before thanking me. Before she could go, I lightly hold on to her shoulder.

"You know," I start quietly as I leaned down to whisper, "It's better to hide in plain sight rather than to do so in the shadows." Bethany knows exactly what I was talking about and she quickly panics and turns from my hold on her.

"I don't know what you're talking about serrah." I scoff at her attempt to cover up the fact that I knew what she was. It wasn't that hard since I already knew she was an Apostate and if anyone smart or observant enough to see how she acted around Templars they could easily put together the puzzle.

"I'm not threatening you or anything Bethany. After all, it takes one to know one, right?" Hopefully she gets the hint I'm dropping in front of her face and by the sudden realization that flickered past her eyes, she did.

"Y-you're one too?" Bethany asks hopefully as she turns back to face me. She must have led a lonely life, understandable if she had to hide the fact she was a mage from anyone outside her family. Plus, I bet there weren't any other apostates nearby where she could mix and mingle with. I raise a finger to my lips and smile at her again, _this was so fun!_

"Do you know a place where we can talk in private?"

Bethany ended up taking me back to her home. The Hawkes actually owned the farmlands you see in Origins and by the looks of things, they were actually successful. When Leandra saw me behind her daughter, she was about ready to yell for help but was quickly silenced by Bethany with a quick 'He helped me avoid the Templars. He has the same problem as I do'.

"Thank you for inviting me to your home," I tell both of them as I take a seat at the dining table. I only wore my cloak when I went back into the city after dealing with the bandits so there was no fear in the wooden chair being scratched up and mangled by my armour.

"So, serrah Vasili, is it true that you are a mage as well?" Leandra asks straight to the point. She was looking at me critically and by the stance she was in, _hands crossed in front of her with her hips cocked to the side, _she still did not trust me.

"Yes, I was never admitted into the circle as a child so that makes me an apostate as well." No lies there.

"And how were you able to avoid the Templars grasp for so long?" She follows up without pause.

Rather than explaining, I take off my clawed gauntlets and drop them off the table. My cloak quickly slithers back under me, reforming into my shadow. "I hide in plain sight." I tell them smugly, _plus reputation on the second day?! _"I was taught and raised how to do this." I turn to look at Bethany before continuing, "I hide by acting as if I was part of the rest of the crowd. I blend in. Other apostates have a primal fear of Templars finding out about them so they try to avoid them at all cost, resulting in giving away what they are. But, when you act like the Templars are just bystanders and don't mind them at all, they leave you alone. It's only the people who are nervous around them or steal a glance at them that they suspect. If you suddenly try to run or hide from them, then they know you're already guilty of something."

_Its common sense mixed in a bit with logic. Mages in Dragon Age always panic when they see a Templar and they don't try to blend in. They instantly run and hide or lash out. Plus, they wear mage robes instead of armour or bring their staff along with them the whole time. If they could have just dressed up like villagers or better yet, in armour, then the Templars wouldn't even look at them twice. I could see that Bethany was smart enough to dress up in _normal _clothes and didn't bring her staff everywhere she went, but she still panicked when she saw Templars, much more now when Templars were streaming in through the Imperial Highway on their way to Ostagar._

I tell them what I thought of and answered questions they asked. I told them about my real world parents but made them out to be successful merchants. When they found out I was a made, they approached a mutual friend and I told them that she taught me how to blend in with the _normal _people. Bethany asked me about my gauntlets and powers and I told her that the gauntlet acted like what a staff would for her. I demonstrated my powers by touching the shadows of the table and pulling it up and out of the ground. I then formed it into the shape of a diamond before putting it on the table. Bethany and Leandra took turns in holding and examining it.

"It's solid! I never thought that shadows could be… well… How do you do this? Who taught you how to do this?"

"The same person who taught me to blend in, of course," I saw that Bethany wanted to ask who my teacher was but decided against it. She knew that I would be revealing another apostate mage.

"Bethany, I know we've known each other for only two days and all, but our kind have to stick together, right? I can teach you how to blend in. Know that doing so; we'll be spending quite some time near Templars themselves." I turn my gaze to Leandra as well, "If, of course, I have your consent as well?"

I was going to pull lessons out of my ass but I knew enough to be invisible in plain sight back in the real world. So when both of them agreed, I had told them that it would only take a day for me to teach her how to blend in like what I do. Leandra was sceptical about how easy it was and I told her my lessons were a mixture of common sense as well as a bit of logic, _real world logic anyway_, and we were off.

"The first thing you have to do is the exact opposite of what you were taught when you were a child. Do not voluntarily avoid the Templars, do not run from them and do not look suspicious. Blend in, wear normal clothes, don't bring your staff or if you can try to hide it on your person, here let me give you something…"

I touched the shadows of the nearby try before pulling out a pair of black welder-style gloves. I gave them to Bethany who just looked at them weirdly, "I look silly," she told me as she flexed her fingers inwards then outwards.

"Silly? Yes, practical? Yes, these gloves are special obviously; in their palms is a set space where you can put your staff in. What's amazing about my powers is that it is only limited to what my mind can make up. I can literally make anything from the shadows. And, if I am ever in a place where there is no light, where there is only _darkness_, I am unstoppable."

"Hubris will be your downfall, Vasili. None of us are invincible. Neither the King nor the Divine are invincible." Bethany was chastising me? Wow, ok maybe I _was _over-exaggerating but whatever. I was here to enjoy the video game world and change the course of history for this dimension. I was given powers that no one else has here as well as the supportand backing of a god-like being. Well, the last one isn't all true since she told me that _I _was her puppet and everything she gave me were tools to help reshape this world. It was like what the Watcher's did to her except I was in control of my own decisions. Which by the way was rather strange, I mean why would she want me in control? What if the changes I made was not to her liking? Well whatever, one thing at a time. Now was the time to help Bethany.

Our first stop was the Chantry and I had to clamp down on her shoulder before she could run back home. I slowly explained to her that no sane on-the-run mage on the run would even think of going near the place since it acted as the Templar's headquarters in Lothering. She asked me if I knew that no sane apostate would go near this place then why were we?

I smiled before pushing her into the building and making her sit with me. "Now stop fidgeting Bethany, you'll give the game away."

"I can't stop fidgeting! All the Templars are looking right at us!"

"That's because you're making a scene, Bethany. Come down and _blend _in, not stick out like a sore thumb." I pull out a Chanter's book, _like Dragon Age's version of the bible_, and start reading quietly. Bethany is still looking left and right, watching the Templars move about the place. Even though they were the military arm of the Chantry, all of them were quite happy to help the Lay Sisters and Lay Brothers in their duties. I guess it was a way for them to try and relax before getting shipped off to Ostagar? I know that King Cailan had called on anyone capable of wielding a sword to join him in stopping the Blight.

"What are you doing now?!" _Oh for the love of-_

I gently grab Bethany's shaking hands and place the book in them. I lift her chin with a finger and calmly tell her, "_Blend _in Bethany. Act like a _normal_, _non-magical _person visiting the Chantry. Stop acting like a mage who walked into a building filled with people trained specifically to put mages down. _You are making it obvious that you do not belong here_." With that, I pull out another book tucked into a shelf built into the pew in front of us and open it into a random page and start reading.

After a few minutes of just sitting there reading, Bethany finally calmed down and was just looking around the temple. Knowing her life, this was probably the first time she had ever gone in here. On the twenty minute mark on my watch, _it was one of those automatic winding types that didn't need batteries_, I tapped Bethany on the shoulder and motioned that we were leaving.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"The Templars didn't even go near us… But, I thought they could sense magic?"

"No my dear, Templars are trained to spot mages, they cannot sense magic unless someone is actively casting a spell, in which case everyone can sense it by that point. You see, Templars know that the mere sight of them will cause a panic to anyone trying to hide their magical status. As for why they didn't come at us? As I said before, no mage is stupid enough to go into the Chantry! That's practically them signing their own death warrants! So when we came in, they didn't suspect us to be mages because they _knew _that we were normal, everyday citizens. Hundreds of years of mages running away from the sight of them have conditioned the Templar Order to spot signs like that. If we don't show fear and just make sure not to look the part of the mage as well as being careful not to cast a spell anywhere near them, then we are practically invisible to them."

She was so engrossed in what I was telling her that she doesn't even notice the groups of Templars walking by us. As I could see it, another platoon arrived from the Imperial Highway on their way to Ostagar. I tell Bethany to stay put and _don't panic_ as I ask around about the news of what was happening south of Lothering.

**XXXXXX**

It seems that I have miscalculated the time.

Apparently, A Blight is called that only when the Darkspawn Horde leaves the Deep Roads. I thought that because of the gathering army at Ostagar that the Blight was already happening.

The reason why they were gathering an army because word had been sent out from Orzammar that Darkspawn numbers had dramatically increased the past year. King Cailan had instantly called on every city in Ferelden to rally against the growing threat. I remember that the army would successfully repel two waves of Darkspawn before the Wardens would arrive at the old fortress in Ostagar. From what I was able to sweet talk out of a soldier, _sweet talk translating to bribing with a gold coin_, the first wave had yet to emerge from the Korcari Wilds.

This puts me in a bit of a dilemma. Do I venture towards Ostagar and try to link up with the Grey Wardens, or do I stay with Bethany and Leandra here in Lothering? On one hand, I have no idea what happens during Origins since I stopped playing when I couldn't kill that damned _Brood Mother. _On the other hand, I had already been making a bit of progress with Bethany.

…

…

I'll stay with them. I preferred Dragon Age 2 anyways.

So with that situation done, it would seem that my time limit had considerably extended.

**XXXXXX**

And after six months of just doing stuff around Lothering, it finally happened.

But before that, let me tell you what I had been up to!

Learning that I had plenty of time before Lothering gets overrun by Darkspawn, I continued my lessons with Bethany. Some may ask where I pulled out these lessons. Simple really; back in High School my friends and I would pull pranks on one another and they would usually leave a mess in the Hallways or the Bathrooms in school. When the teacher's came by to ask what had happened, we would act like nothing ever happened and do the 'innocent' routine. I just put to use my avoiding trouble experience here and since nothing has backfired on me yet, then I'd continue to train Bethany in acting 'innocent'.

I also noticed that I didn't get as tired as I used to when I would manifest my _Badass _armour but after two months of constantly exhausting myself, I only felt my muscles ache. By the fifth month, I would sweat more than normal but would not get knocked unconscious or feel the strain on my body that much. And my shadows were somehow responding much quicker. For example, when I am too slow to dodge or block an attack from the bandits I'd help the town get rid of the shadows that were either making up my armour or the ones still on the ground would react and block the attack. They also made my attacks stronger by pushing me just that little more to help throw a bigger enemy or make my punches hit harder by automatically making my gauntlets thicker, or spiked. I was not complaining at all and it was actually making my life that much easier.

After I was so sure that my shadows were more than enough, a big ass bandit comes charging into one of my 'clean up' job and swings his gigantic war hammer at me. The shadows reacted in the nick of time, saving me from a shattered rib cage and a broken back. Bethany, bless her soul, was actually there with me. She was bored and wanted to see what I did when I wasn't breaking her fear of Templars. She incinerated that bastard and made him regret ever trying to turn me into a pancake. Realizing that not everything could be solved with my powers I looked for anyone willing to teach me how to wield and use a sword, with pay.

By the way, did you know that once a bandit leaves their plundered treasures behind, it's free game? Got a lot of gold from selling the trinkets they stole from people. And because I am not a complete asshole, I return the property to their owners, but only if they came looking for it. They were happy enough to give me more money for its safe return. I actually had to buy a chest, one foot tall and two feet wide, to put my money in. I was also saving up a bit more from my jobs ever since Leandra's opinion of me did a complete one eighty. Seeing her daughter relaxed and not fearing for her freedom every second of every day must have been what caused it. She didn't speak to me in harsh tones anymore and often invited me to their house for meals. I wasn't born a freeloader so I repaid them by doing manual labour around the house. The farm was taken care of by hired workers and I butting in would only get them angry at me since I was stealing their jobs from them…

Who knew being a sword/mage (not that they knew that) for hire would make you so rich? I was pretty sure I could pay my way into Kirkwall without much fuss as well as the Deep Roads expedition. Hell, maybe I could bribe a few nobles in the Viscounts court to help the Hawke's get their estate back.

Something at the back of my mind was telling me that it wasn't normal for someone to get this rich so fast in a short amount of time. But who cares? It was probably a glitch in this dimension that I was exploiting the shit out of. I wasn't complaining! This would make the upcoming adventure super easy since I wouldn't have to worry about expenses that much.

Then one day, when Bethany and I were on our way to get another job slaying bandits, _ever since the time I almost got myself killed, Bethany decided that she would watch my back from here on out. No complaints here, _she had told me to buy a new set of armour since just relying on my 'talent' would end up with me getting almost killed again.

So, there I was getting some medium armour made from Silverite. It was the only one I could decide on that was in my price range without bankrupting me, light enough for me to move and attack unhindered as well as strong enough to deflect attacks weak enough. Of course, I asked the blacksmith to make it as rounded and compact to my body as possible so that I could layer my shadow over it to form the Didact's armour. Seriously, that armour is _badass_. I turn to leave the smithy when I bump into someone.

"Oh, sorry," I turn to see who I bumped into and freeze. Bright yellow eyes regard me with amusement and I couldn't do anything except stare at _Morrigan_. What the hell was she doing here anyways? Wasn't she supposed to be with The Warden and Alistair, unless of course if they were already here.

_That means Ostagar has fallen, the real game is about to start!_

"When I first entered this helpless little town, I thought that nothing of interest would be here," She raked her eyes over my form, taking note of the exotic, black armour I was wearing, _I layered my Silverite armour with my shadows before leaving the change room_. "And yet, as I stepped into the town's proper, I felt a wave of power wash over me, thick and crushing. It was nothing I have ever felt before and that sense of power leads me to you." She smiles wickedly, finding out about my powers without even looking that hard. Sheen of sweat appears on my forehead at this. I had no idea how to handle Morrigan and I couldn't really do anything against her because I knew she was part The Warden's party. If I did, it might affect the storyline and that would make things unpredictable. "What have we here, I wonder? Are you an abomination, perhaps? An apostate hiding from the Templars and the circle? If so, then you have chosen poorly."

"Try; an inter-dimensional traveller acting as a god-like beings puppet." I say cheekily as I cross my arms in front of my chest. With a thought, my helmet clicks and retracts to reveal my face. "Good day, traveller." I smile at her, trying to hide the fact that her smile was creeping me out.

"It has manners! My, my, I might have been wrong on my impression of this town if it holds a being as interesting as you." She uses her staff to lean on and that catches the attention of a few roaming Templars. "So what brings one such as you to a hole in the ground such as Lothering?" _Oh man, she is attracting attention from everyone! Insulting the town is not getting her any plus points either._

"I was actually just waiting until the right moment. And seeing you here, then the game has already been set, the die cast." I don't know why I talk like this. In the real world, I am never this mysterious or cool. "I suggest you move through this town quickly, the Darkspawn are at our heels by now." I turn and make my way towards Bethany who was sitting and reading at a nearby bench, "Bethany, we have to get back to the farmhouse, now."

She looks up from her book questioningly, but my serious expression must have tipped her off that something was about to happen. She nods before following me back to her house.

"Vas, what's going on? What happened?" She stops me with a firm hand to my shoulder. I stop and think for a moment what to tell her. I could always lie, that never failed yet, or I could tell her the truth? How could I even explain what I know to her? It's not as if magic… Wait, that's it.

"I had a vision at the smithy," I start off, thinking quickly to piece the sentence in my mind into completion, "The army at Ostagar has fallen, the King is dead."

"W-what? But, there were thousands of soldiers at the fortress, hundreds of thousands! How could the Darkspawn go through the army so quickly?"

"For every soldier that falls from our side, they had to their ranks."

"My brother and sister are at Ostagar! Did you see them, are they safe?!"

"They're on their way here. Right now you have to tell your mother and start packing essentials! I'm going to get my chest at the inn. I'll meet you back here soon."

**XXXXXX**

I knew things were going downhill when the smell of smoke and the sounds of screams started.

It was an hour or two since I left Bethany at the farm and ten minutes since I saw Morrigan and four other figures leave through the Imperial Highway. It was ten minutes ago that I saw the smoke rising from the forest surrounding the village and five minutes before I saw my very first Darkspawn. It was a gunlock, judging by its short stature and was uglier than anything I have ever seen in my entire life. That one was followed by ten more of its fellows and behind them were hundreds more. I could see some of the forest trees shaking and falling to the ground, meaning an ogre was nearby as well. Screams were also emanating from the bowels of the forest, telling me they had Shrieks with them as well.

I grab my chest full of money and push it into my armour, the container sinking into its shadowy depths without resistance. The weight of it is no bother to me and once I'm sure that everything else has been packed and stored within the confines of my armour, I quickly run back to the Hawkes farm.

The guards were quickly rushing to the opposite direction to try and save as many villagers as they could.

When I arrive at the house, I see two people quickly talking to Leandra and Bethany. One was female, with short black hair and pale skin. She wore leather armour and had a great sword strapped to her back and a short sword at her waist. The other was male, with short messy black hair, wearing a sleeveless leather tunic and brown leather pants. He also had a great sword strapped to his back but had no other visible weapon on him.

"Bethany, Leandra, we have to go!" The two Hawke siblings I haven't personally met yet turned to look at me. I didn't mind them for now as I helped Bethany put their things onto a wagon before pointing at the hills behind the house. It was the path that the Hawke family took during the Dragon Age 2 opening and I had scouted out the place weeks ago and deemed the corridor big enough for a horse drawn carriage.

"Wait! Mother who is this stranger?" Carver, _the male one duh_, asked as he openly glared at me as I lifted a particularly heavy chest, _sounded like it was filled with either coins or jewellery_, into the wagon.

"No time for introductions boy, the Darkspawn Horde is right on our tails. The path behind the house leads around and away from Lothering. Following that path leads us to a port town. If we don't want to die, we have to move!" I turn to look at the village and see that the buildings were catching on fire. The Chantry was filling up with scared villagers and the last of the Templars and Town Guards were making a last stand in front of the temple. They were getting surrounded by Darkspawn and running to help them would just kill us all as well.

There were too many.

Not looking back, I tell everyone to board the wagon. Leandra and Bethany driving while Carver, myself and Marian,_ at least I think that's her default name_, ride at the back. Using their shadows, I create three long bows and pull out a large quiver of arrows from one of the chests. I still couldn't create ammunition from my shadows and had no idea why. My control was stronger than before so why couldn't the arrows last more than ten feet?

"Shoot anything that goes near the wagon!"

"Who in the Maker's name are you?!"

"We'll do introductions later Carver, their coming," and just as Marian (?) says that, dozens of Genlocks, Hurlocks and Shrieks come running towards us. Carver and Marian (?) quickly unload a volley of arrows at the approaching monsters and I get a few kills as well. That _Battle Haze_ I've been upgraded with settles over my mind and everything goes on autopilot. I don't instantly kill Darkspawn by the dozen, but my hesitation to let go of the bowstring disappears and I send a good handful tumbling to the ground.

"They're in front of us!" Leandra shouts just as an Ogre barrels over the hilltop. It roars in challenge as it sees our wagon and bring down its horns to charge us like a bull.

"I'll handle it," I hear myself say calmly before my helmet assembles over my face again. I climb to the front of the wagon before the shadows underneath me catapult me towards the ogre. _Holy shit, I had no idea I was capable of this!_ I cup both hands together and the gauntlets reform into a serrated, jagged lance. It was taller than I was but only a foot wide in the middle.

The ogre was caught by surprise and made a sound that sounded like a 'huh?' before I speared it through its right eye. As soon as my feet are planted on its shoulders, I will the lance to explode into spikes, causing the ogre's head to explode like a dropped watermelon. The wagon drives past and I jump safely into the back. The horses had an easy time trampling over the few Genlocks that tried to block our path.

"Vas, how did you do that?" Bethany asks from the front of the wagon. I have no idea how I could do that myself so I just shrug before screaming.

"LOOK OUT!" Two people were in our path and thanks to some quick reflexes in Leandra's part as well as willing the shadow of the wagon to stick on the underside of the wagon helped us avoid them. Unfortunately for those who were standing, _completely forgot about Marian and Hawke_, they were flung out of the wagon and on to the fellow escapees. "Bethany, block our path with your fire."

"On it," she easily replies as she plunges her hand into the palm of her right glove. A few seconds of trying to get a grip on her staff and she pulls it out, _a black staff with two dragons balancing an orb of light in between their mouths as the head of the staff_, before throwing a ball of flame into the path. The Genlocks and Hurlocks try to run through the flames but its magical nature instantly burns them to ashes. The Shrieks try to _jump _over the flames but couldn't clear it as the flames would reach out and burn them as well,

"This won't hold them off forever," Bethany states before climbing back into the wagon. I nod at her warning before helping the four downed people. Both the Hawke siblings are alright aside from a few scratches. The two they landed on had it worse though. Like us, they had fought their way through the Darkspawn and judging by the nasty looking cuts that the one in full Templar uniform had, the Ogre's went through them to get to us.

"Are you two alright?" Asks Leandra from the wagon and as soon as they nod, I start pushing them towards it. We didn't have time to waste on pleasantries, plus I already knew that these were both Aveline and Ser Wesley.

"We'll talk later! For now, let's concentrate one escaping the Blight!"

We were all aboard the wagon and were quickly approaching the plateau that the Darkspawn would ambush us in. But, surely the precautions I took to ensure that everyone would survive would work right? The wagon will help us outrun them and my powers and skills were more than enough to kill the next ogre judging by the results of a few minutes ago. Hopefully we could just rush through them and crush anything that got in our way.

But by the time we cleared the rise, they were already waiting for us. Dozens, maybe a hundred Darkspawn were at the other side with drawn swords and snarling mouths. They were mostly compromised of Hurlocks just like in the game and the ogre was probably not too far behind.

"Anyone still strong enough to fight, follow me." I say to the group as I jump off of the wagon. "Someone stays with Lady Hawke," I add without turning around. This wasn't a good time to just rush into battle and leave the defenceless matriarch of the Hawke family alone. Bethany agrees to stay easily enough so Aveline, Carver, Marian and Ser Wesley followed me to the front where we faced off against the small army of monsters blocking our path.

"Even with the five of us, there's still too many!" Carver complains as he readies his great sword in front of him. Aveline does the same with her sword and shield but Ser Wesley couldn't even lift his shield arm halfway. "We'll need a miracle to get through this!"

I look at him for a second before turning my attention back at the Darkspawn. For some reason they were waiting for us to move first and that was a fucking advantage for me right there! The Battle Haze creeps over my mind again and with deliberate slowness, I bend down to touch my shadow. _I worked too hard for the past months to die here! _"On my signal, we charge. Take as many of them down!" I could feel my power connecting with the shadows beneath them and estimated that I could take down half of them before they could move. If they do suddenly charge now, then we were _fucked_.

Pouring the majority of my power into the shadow below me, I watched as ten foot tall spikes erupted underneath the Darkspawn. Some of the spikes shot straight up like I intended but the rest spiked sideways or low enough to just take off the legs. Without a pause I stand back up, a shadow great sword, _designed like a Daedric Great Sword from Skyrim, _in hand and I let out a shout as I run towards the confused Darkspawn, "FIGHT!"

Again the Battle Haze clouds my senses and for the first time in my life, I took someone else's. Granted, they weren't human and they were out for my blood. But, who was ever comfortable with killing another being? I see myself just going through the crowd swinging. I take one or two with each swing and any that I miss gets killed by the people following behind me. Bethany was taking pot shots at the Darkspawn with lightning bolts or fireballs and I could actually feel the shadows that made my armour vibrate when a spell gets too close for comfort.

When the Haze finally lifts, I was standing in the middle of a field of corpses. I do not feel sick at the sight. I feel… satisfaction in what I have done. It confuses me why I would feel happy, but could not think more on the topic when something big lumbers into view.

Another ogre

With back-up

Shit

I raise my sword to defend myself, but a fireball from Bethany destroys the shadows that made up my sword. I look at the handle awkwardly before getting grabbed by the ugly beast and get treated like a ragdoll for a few minutes. My whole world turns into pain and incoherent screams of;

"AAUGH"

"AARGH"

"OWIE"

And so forth

Someone had probably distracted the fucker because the pain had stopped. There were figures, blurred and moving fast, above me. I could hear people talking but couldn't understand what they were saying. Was I dying?

I was slipping…

I was…

**Get up; I won't let you die yet, puppet**

No, wait, I'm not. The pain that tells me my bones are broken is gone. The pressure that was making my lungs and heart hurt disappear. Everything refocuses and I look up into the crying visage of Bethany leaning over me. I can feel something wet clinging to my body and the feel of the shadows on me isn't present. I still have my gauntlets though which was good. With another badass/cool moment springing up to mind I suddenly sit straight up, surprising the small crowd that had encircled my _dying _form.

"Well, that was fun. Time to go," I jump back to my feet and note the drying up blood that was all over me. Was it mine or from the ogres? I couldn't tell right now but whatever. My Halo 4 shirt is completely ruined now and the watch that had survived with me in this dimension was crushed around my wrist. _Great, now I have to learn how to read sun dials! _The realization of not being dead hasn't struck me yet and I'll probably just ask Manah the next time I see her what was up with my recently discovered immortal status.

"Vasili, you're alright! But, how did you…?" I turn to the gaping masses and shrug my shoulders. Hey, I couldn't explain this either anyway so whatever.

"What's important is that we are all safe and stuff. We should probably high tail it out of here before more Darkspawn come." And like any other cliché, as soon as I finish saying that, another group clear the rise and see us all standing there like a bunch of idiots. "Or we could kill them first."

Before the horde could charge, a great roar fills the clearing and everyone looks up to see something on the overlooking cliff.

_Huh, I totally forgot about Flemeth arriving to save our asses,_ I think to myself as I watch her flash-burn the Darkspawn quickly and cleanly. She does the whole cloaked-in-fire-before-emerging-as-a-human bit and until now, two years after its release, I am still conflicted whether to think if she was hot or not. On one hand, she's centuries old, but on the other hand _that body is rocking and the game's graphics did not do her beauty justice_. Ok, inappropriate thoughts, concentrate!

"Well, well… What have we here?" She says teasingly as she looks at our haggard appearances, "Used to be we never got visitors in the Wilds, but now it seems they arrive in hordes!" She was wearing the exact same thing she wore in the game and I couldn't help but to stare at her yellow coloured eyes. _Just like Morrigan's eyes._

"Impressive," Was the first words I hear from Marian ever since meeting her. It shouldn't come as a surprise anymore that she sounded the same. I turn to look back as Ser Wesley collapses to the ground, the Taint already making itself known, "Where'd you learn how to turn into a dragon?"

"Perhaps I am a dragon?" Flemeth responds as she turns to look at me. The same wicked smile that Morrigan gave me played across her lips and I couldn't help but stand behind Bethany for protection. _What's up with them? Sheesh, _"If so, you should count yourself lucky! The smell of burning Darkspawn does nothing for the appetite."

"If you wish to _flee _the Darkspawn, you should know you are heading in the **wrong **direction."

"Wait," Bethany calls out before I could stop her, "You can't just leave us here!"

"Actually, she can. She _is _a dragon after all! Say bye-bye to the relatively nice dragon lady!" I tell them as I duck behind Bethany when Flemeth turns to look at me.

"I spotted a most… curious sight," The Witch of the Wild says as she keeps _staring _at me, "A pair of mighty ogres, vanquished! Who could perform such a feet?" _Does anyone not notice her eyes were glowing?! Seriously, this lady was freaking me out! _"But now my curiosity is sated and you are safe… for the moment. Is that not enough?"

"You've done more than enough, thank you! We can definitely take it from here!" Bethany's elbow catches me in the ribs. I couldn't help the surprised yelp that escaped me.

"You _could _show me that trick of yours," Marian continues, eying her sister and me curiously before turning back to Flemeth, "That looks useful!"

Flemeth laughs at that and the sound just sends tremors through my whole being. "If only a clever tongue was all one needed… Tell me, clever child, how do you intend to outrun the Blight?"

"Kirkwall," Leandra suddenly pipes up from behind us, "We need to get to Kirkwall, in the Free Marches."

"Kirkwall… My, but that is _quite _the voyage you plan! You're king will not miss you, Hm?"

"Of course he won't! King Cailan fell at Ostagar. It's hard for a dead man to feel _anything_." _I think it was safe to say that Flemeth was scaring me so much that I was blurting everything I said in my mind out loud. Wait, did that mean I was doing it right now? Shit_

Flemeth laughs at me loudly before speaking, "Oh, _you _I like!"

"Hurtled into chaos, you fight... and the world will shake before you." She turns away from us and looks to the setting sun in the horizon, "Is it fate or chance? I can never decide."

She turns back and walks to stand closer to us, "It appears fortune smiles on us _both_, today. I may be able to help you yet."

"There must be a catch?" Marian asks to which Flemeth replies with a laugh.

"There is always a catch. Life is a catch! I suggest you _catch it_ while you can!"

"Maybe… we shouldn't trust her? I don't even know what she is." Bethany interjects into the conversation.

"I know what she is," Aveline says from behind us as she looks to Flemeth, "The Witch of the Wilds!"

"Some call me that, also; Flemeth, _Asha'bellanar_, an old hag who talks too much!" Deciding to keep a safe distance away from Flemeth, I turn and walk towards Leandra.

She looked a bit pale but none the worse for wear. When she saw me approaching, she gave me a tired smile. "It is good to see that you were alright, Vasili. When we saw that ogre snatching you up…" She pauses here to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. _Why was she crying for my sake? Have I really made that much of an impression on her?_

"How are you, Lady Hawke? Are you hurt?" I ask instead as I try to spot any wounds or blood on her person. But aside from a few bruises from the rough ride on the wagon, she seemed fine.

"A little shaken up, but fine," Leandra looks back to the wagon with all the things they were able save from the farm. A wistful smile passes quickly before she looked back at me, "Thank you for helping us, Vas. If it weren't for your warning, we might have lost everything to the Blight!"

Leandra always reminded me of my own mother. She was always happy and full of smiles for her kids. _Don't start crying now…_

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right? We look out for one another."

"No, I said I'd drag you out if I had to and I meant it!" Aveline's outburst catches my attention and I could see from here the dark veins that were visible with his pale white skin. _Poor guy has a few minutes left before someone puts him down_. _Oh man, he's getting glassy eyed._

Without thinking on it, I excuse myself before walking towards Ser Wesley and Aveline.

"He's been infected." I say bluntly to Aveline before looking at her straight in the eyes, "The only cure for this is becoming a Grey Warden or death and I saw a Grey Warden leaving in the other direction we took in Lothering."

"Then what would you have me do?! He's my husband and I can't just!" She tries to hold back tears but I could see them at the edge of her eyes.

"The corruption is a slow death… I can't" mutters Ser Wesley as he looks at us pleadingly.

"You can't ask this of me…" Aveline sobs as she finally breaks down.

_The emotions here are so thick. If I don't keep it together, I might end up crying myself!_

"It… has to be done. I'm sorry serrah." Aveline looks at me angrily before settling down and giving me a stiff nod. She stands and leaves me with the dying Templar. _What I would do for a curaga spell right now!_

Ser Wesley struggles for a while before handing me his dagger. He thanks me before closing his eyes and waits for me to end his suffering. _How did I think this was a good idea?_

Instead of the painful death choice, I decide to use my shadows and try to give him a more peaceful death. I push my will into the Templar's shadow and they obey instantly, crawling into the pores of his skin and finding their way into his body. I was planning an instant death for him instead of letting him bleed out here alone. To do that, I had to _destroy_ all his organs at once. _At least, I think I do…_

"Think of happier times," I tell him and once I see him smiling I will the shadows I placed inside his body to act. In an instant, he collapses, boneless, to the ground, the smile lingering on his face. "Rest in Peace," There was nothing else to say. For the first time since coming to this dimension, I felt guilt. Could I have saved him if I planned more? If I had done _more _rather than concentrated on the Hawke's, could I have saved Lothering?

A shadow looms over me and I turn to see Flemeth looking down on me. She holds out a hand and in it, I see the amulet that we have to bring to the Dalish Elves that lived at the base of Sundermount near Kirkwall. I remember that the amulet held a piece of her soul or something. It was her back up plan if ever she wasn't able to possess Morrigan to extend her life.

"Without an end, there is no peace," Flemeth intones as she drops the amulet into my open palm, "It gets no easier."

"Your struggles have only just begun."

**XXXXXX**

"Flemeth" Cassandra says incredulously as she glares at Varric.

"I thought that might interest you," The dwarf smiles at the Seeker, but only irritates her more than before.

"You expect _me _to believe a myth swooped out of the wilds to save the champion and her family?"

"Oh, come now, Seeker. Do I need to recite the tale of the Warden as well?" Varric says as he crosses his arms.

"No. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised to hear of her involvement."

"Heh, I liked my version too," that smug smile on his face was pissing Cassandra off so much. She wanted nothing else but to punch him across the face.

"What else aren't you telling me, then? Did she send someone with the Champion?"

Varric suddenly loses his jovial demeanour and stares at the Seeker for a long moment. Cassandra was actually surprised that the dwarf could pull off such a face. "Did Flemeth send someone with Hawke to Kirkwall?" He leans forward to lean on his knees. "In a manner of speaking… Tell me Seeker, how much do you know about Vasili Attano?"

Cassandra quirks an eyebrow at the question but indulges him nonetheless, "He was a friend of the Champion. A powerful mage said to have the unique ability to control the shadows around him. He led the mercenary group called _Dead Cell_ and was a large contributing factor to the Hawkes getting into Kirkwall. He also invested a large sum of gold into the Deep Roads Expedition that your brother, Bartrand, led."

"And what have you heard of the man himself, Seeker?"

"Don't tell me those rumours are true as well? I can believe, _barely_, that the Witch of the Wilds would cross the champion. But, now you're telling men that rumours about _him _are true as well?"

"Yes, but I also want you to keep those rumours close to your heart, because it was no exaggeration how deadly and how powerful he is in Kirkwall. Hawke once told me that the first time she had met him, he was 'a sweet if a bit strange boy'. I met him too and at first impressions you can tell he was raised in a good home with a loving family."

"But he made killing an art form. At the battlefield, nobody could touch him. He could kill you without moving and you wouldn't even know you were dead until it was _too late_."

"You make him sound like he was immortal!"

"I just told you he got crushed by an ogre and stood right back up as if nothing happened! He told me once that _something_ was not allowing him to die. Every time he did come back from the dead, he could feel his mind slipping from him." Varric clears his throat loudly before leaning back into his stone chair. "And another thing; whoever gave you that info about him _controlling_ the Darkness? He got some details wrong."

"And those details are what exactly?"

"He didn't just control it…

He gave the Darkness _life_."

**XXXXXX**

_The witch kept her word and got them to Gwaren, where they took ship. They sailed north across the Waking Sea, lashed by terrible storms. Two weeks they spent in that dark hold, packed in with the fearful and the desperate. And then they saw it: Kirkwall, the City of Chains. Long ago, it was part of the Imperium, slaves coming in from far and wide to work the quarries. Now it's a free city. But I use the word loosely. Sail through those black cliffs and you'll see what the slaves of old saw: the Gallows, welcoming you. That's where the ship landed with all the rest._

Next Chapter: Kirkwall

**So what do you guys think?**

**Leave a review and tell me your thoughts on this, or if you're busy how about a word or smile to tell me that you enjoyed my fic? Constructive criticism is appreciated and any misspelled word or wrong grammar you find, please tell me so that I can fix it. :)**

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**Have a question, ask and I'll try to answer as soon as I am able to but know that the questions you have will **_**probably **_**be answered in the next chapters.**

**Also, I plan to update this every weekend (Between Friday and Sunday) and will make all the chapters at least ten thousand words strong.**

**Till next time**


	2. Chapter 2

_Things get a bit weird in this chapter_

_Like fifty percent weirder_

_And the M rating shows itself in this chapter_

_Also, this is more of filler, connecting the ride to Kirkwall as well as getting in._

_Another also, I'm going to warn you guys now that every time Manah shows up it's going to get weird._

**XXXXXX**

**Chapter 2:**

**Kirkwall**

We slowly made our way to Gwaren, the trip to the port town mostly passed by in silence. Aveline sat at the back of the wagon with Marian and Carver. She didn't bother to talk to anyone, especially me. She was one of the reasons why I was walking besides the wagon and not on it. Flemeth had carved a path leading straight to the town. No Darkspawn or bandit came even close the burning path that we travelled on.

I noticed that Marian and Carver were giving me looks, as if they were trying to figure out if I was real or not. I tried to ignore the both of them for now since I didn't really feel like talking much. I mean, until now, I haven't killed anyone! Every bandit group I took down was done with no lethal force, and would always give them to the Town Guards. Wesley was my first kill. Aveline's husband was the first person I killed consciously. Darkspawn didn't even count because they weren't _human_ anymore.

"Alright I'll ask him," Marian stage whispers to her brother before jumping off the wagon and making her way to my side. I tried to ignore how she was just staring at me and tried to ignore that we were probably just a foot apart from touching shoulders. Seriously, what was her deal? Couldn't she see my brooding face as well as how all the shadows in a five meter radius were quivering?

"So stranger," She tries to start off but I cut her off before she could continue.

"Vasili Attano, for future references,"

"Right, right, so Vasili, who are you exactly?" She asks

"A traveller" I reply easily enough

"Where are you from?"

"Somewhere far away,"

"I take it you're not in the mood to talk, then?"

"Now what gave you that idea?"

"Oh good, then you don't mind me asking you a few questions then?"

"You've passed a _few,_ five minutes ago."

"How do you know Bethany and my mother? I've never seen you in Lothering before." I sighed loudly and hoped she would get the idea and leave me alone to brood for a while, but by the way she was still looking at me and still a foot away then she was either ignoring me or that dense. Letting out another sigh, I decided to just answer all her questions. There weren't that much right?

"Fine damn it… Six months ago, I came across Lothering while travelling through Ferelden. I planned on staying a few days learning about the place, you know?" I turn to look at Bethany and catch her looking. She quickly looks the other way, a slight blush dusting her cheeks. I chuckle at that before continuing, "But then I came across a most curious sight."

"Looking back at that day, it was a bit silly how I snuck around every Templar in town." Bethany said and we all turn to look at her which only causes her to blush more than before.

"Heh, I saw Bethany lurking in the alleyways trying to avoid the Templar patrols. I took pity on the poor thing and decided to teach her how to avoid getting found out and blending into a crowd. The next thing you know, I've been at Lothering for half a year now!"

Marian smiles at me. For what reason, I had no idea. "So," she continues, "I've never seen magic like yours before…"

"It's nothing special, believe me. I can make anything from the Darkness and that power is only limited to what I can come up with. What's so bad about it though? I can't use any other form of magic," believe me, those past six months, I tried to cast a fireball, an ice ball, an air ball with no success whatsoever. Maybe I should have just mixed every power in those goblets and chugged it down?

"That doesn't sound too bad, Vasili. If you have the power to create your own armour and weapons then what else would you need, right?" Oh god, I wish! I let out a short bark of laughter at that.

"It sounds good now but cast a fire or lightning spell my way, and then my shadows dissolve back into the ground. Hell, standing here under the sun makes my constructs only half as powerful as they should be." I know I complain about them like this now, but they are super useful. I guess I'm trying to make them out as just another flawed tool when in fact it was pure awesome with a dash of badass.

"I see… So why did you help my family out? Not that I'm not grateful!" She holds up her hands in a non-threatening gesture, as if her question would offend me to the point that I would hit her, "But, not a lot of people go out of their way to do this." It's true that I had my reasons in helping and going with them, if I didn't then how would I go on adventures with them? How could I change the course of Dragon Age 2 if I wasn't close to the Hawke's?

"Where I come from, the bonds you make with people are strong. If you're a true friend or family, then there's nothing we won't do to help you." It was the truth. Family and friends were very important to us Filipino's and if you fuck with anyone close to us, then you better sleep with one eye open.

"Sounds like your people will make good allies!"

"The _best_ there is serrah, the best there is!" While still walking, Marian extends a hand to me for a handshake. I smile at the gesture and shake her hand happily.

"I'm Marian and the blue-eyed baby face on the cart is Carver. You already know my mother, Leandra and Bethany." She smiles before remembering that we had one more person in our little party. Aveline turns to Marian when she notices the prolonged silence and sees that Hawke was waiting for her to introduce herself as well.

"Aveline Vallen, soldier," was her reply. It was very like her character in the game to be all business.

"Why Kirkwall of all places," Carver asks. It was the first time I had heard him speak and just like in the game, he had a way of sounding angry and at the same time whiny as well. It didn't bother me now but I could see myself butting heads with him if he does that to me.

"We still have family there, and an estate," Leandra answers as she looks to her son and ruffles his hair in a way only a mother could, "A home"

Because of us having a wagon instead of hoofing it all the way to the Port Town, we were able to catch a ship that had no passengers yet. Everyone quickly boarded the ship and I was about to as well, but a firm hand to my shoulder stopped me. I turned and saw Flemeth, back in her human form, looking at me.

"A word, if you may indulge me?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. I quirk my own eyebrow at her request, before nodding and walking off with her. Both of us walk in silence for a while and when I started thinking that I should head back to the ship before it fills up, she speaks.

"I have heard rumours of a being capable of taming the Darkness. For days, I heard the shadow whisper about their new master approaching." She turns and stops to look at me and I do the same, except I try not to flinch at just how powerful her presence is. "Be careful, child, the sword you wield is a double-edged one and you never know which side is sharper."

"So far it feels like my powers only give me advantages." I reply before turning to look back as a crowd of terrified civilians rush into the town to try and escape the fast approaching horde. "I've learned how to control my powers and they are actually quite easy."

"Perhaps," Flemeth whispers into my ear as she holds both of my shoulders in an iron grip. She was stronger than I thought she would be as I can't even turn to face her. "But a little word of warning; the most dangerous threats are the ones you dismiss. In the end, you will become what you hate most."

Her grip disappears and when I turn to face her, she disappears.

"Ok, that was… pretty cool," It was cool. I always wanted to learn how to disappear in a crowd after giving a speech like what Flemeth did, you know, for shock value. But enough of that, I made my way back to our ship without much trouble. Crowds parted to let me by easily enough and I soon found myself on the deck of our ship watching as hundreds of people march into town. The captain of the ship was making a killing with how much he was charging people to get on his ship and safely into Kirkwall. Apparently word was spreading around that people were desperate to get out of Ferelden because ships were coming into town as much as people were. And by the time night had fallen, the town was filled with refugees and our ship had finally left shore.

By what I could see, we were one of the first to leave Gwaren and one of the first few dozen ships to set sail for the Free Marches. I could see now that buying that wagon for the Hawke's was the best idea I had so far. Did this mean we didn't have to bribe our way into Kirkwall anymore? We wouldn't have to work in servitude for a year and we could find a better home than that hole Gamlen lived in? I hoped so.

The captain told me that the wind was on their side and we would make it to Kirkwall in only a week if the weather held. Shit, my luck was actually _good_ for once! Back in the real world my luck wouldn't kick in when I needed it most! Now it was in hyper drive and it only took me dying and being transported into a game to get it to work. Now all I needed was my gadgets back (phone, mp3 player, etc.) and I could call myself the luckiest man on Thedas. Why would I need those you ask? Aside from having no ambient music play while travelling, there wasn't anything to do on a ship like this. Plus, I had to distract myself from thoughts of using the bathroom because that hole in the ground does not count as a toilet and twigs and dried leaves don't count as tissue paper!

So I do everything to busy myself on the ship. I practice my powers in the hold where the sun wasn't beating down on my back; I talk to the Hawkes as well as Aveline a few times. From the way Aveline wasn't glaring daggers at me and talking to me without growling, she forgave me or something. That was good news for me because having the future Guard-Captain of Kirkwall angry at you wasn't something I would call productive.

One day, I was practicing how to create 'live' constructs from my shadow, and although I could have limited control over a small construct I made, it did not have sentience at all and creating anything bigger than six inches tall was almost impossible for me till now. Wouldn't it be cool to have your own shadow army at your beck and call? For example, you find yourself cornered by a bunch of assholes with no weapon and no armour on your person. Your outnumbered ten to one and when they thing they have the upper hand, hands burst out from their own shadows and start clawing at them like a bunch of zombies! They'll be like 'Oh sweet Maker!' and 'Holy shit!' and 'What the fuck!' and you would just sit back as the shadows tear your enemies limb from limb.

I know I was trying to play god by trying to create living beings but so far I had no success. I could create a puppet six inches tall with all the articulation needed but no life to go with it. I tried to imagine the puppet with fully functioning organs and all but still no dice.

_I could create a complete set of the Didact's armour perfectly and create any weapon I can think of from the shadows. But something as complex as a living being, impossible_, I think to myself as I watch the water lap at the boat's hull. It was night time already but I didn't feel tired at all since all I did was sit around and practice with my powers. The Hawkes were asleep down at the hold with Aveline and the other twenty passengers, most of the sailors were asleep as well. Only a skeleton screw and I were awake this time of night.

And for the first time without any dangers lurking around the corner, no Darkspawn or anything, I could actually tell how much stronger I feel at night. My muscles don't feel tired and my body felt refreshed. Were my powers changing me into a night-time kind of person? Because usually at, what two in the morning? I feel dead on my feet. Now it feels like I could go through a few hours of _Randori_ nonstop! But maybe because it was just dark out here, what with the moon hiding behind the clouds and no other light source except for a few lamps and torches around the ship.

"There you are," a quiet voice says behind me. I turn and see Bethany making her way towards me, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Did I mention that I and Bethany became close, as in best friends close, in the six months that I taught her? I guess my happy demeanour and non-douche behaviour helped me with that. I wasn't strict with her during the lessons and every time she would start to panic and freak out, I would put an arm around her shoulder to calm her down. Of course, that happened a lot in the first few weeks and I constantly found myself hugging her or assuring her away from a panic attack or a freak out of some kind. Plus, I read an article once that if you hug a person it increases their trust in you and decreases fear. I never checked if that was true or not but I guess I just proved them right since Bethany trusts me like we've known each other for years instead of half a year. How old was she again? I never asked her but I think she was nineteen too, like me. Seriously, I've never seen girls as well developed as Bethany back in the real world, at least not where I live.

"Hey Bethany," I greet with a small wave as she stands by my side and looks out into the sea with me, "What are you doing up so late?" My question makes her laugh and earns me a playful shove.

"I'm a grown woman, Vas! I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" She crosses her arms and pouts so adorably I couldn't help but laugh at her display because if I didn't I'd probably hug her and feel her up to death… what? You would too if you were in my position!

"Oh I know you can take care of yourself! I saw how you were casting those spells of yours when we were escaping Lothering. And I have to say, that was pretty impressive." She smiles and a faint blush appears on her cheeks.

"Well, not as amazing as how you took out that first ogre! I've never seen anyone do something so…"

"Reckless?" I say

"Heroic, was the word I was looking for," Now I was the one who was blushing.

"Vas, I," she stops for a second and I start to wonder why she was nervous all of a sudden, "I never really had the chance to thank you… for everything you did for us." Was that all?

"No need to thank me Beth, you're the closest friend I have in this place. I'd do anything to keep my friends safe." Bethany smiles sadly at me, before putting a hand on my shoulder.

"It must be hard, always travelling by alone around the world. Don't you miss your friends, family?" I do, believe me I do but thinking about it now will lead to me breaking down and crying like a six foot tall baby, and there is nothing less intimidating and reputation breaking than crying like a baby. It might scare some people, but the intimidation factor will drop by a thousand percent.

"Sometimes, I think about what they're doing right now, if they miss me or not." They probably buried me already, or cremated me. Were they able to identify my body or did the fire ruin any chance of identifying my remains and I was just put in an unmarked grave somewhere. Isn't _that _something to think about? Not the sarcasm in my voice.

"Did you ever go back to your home, just to visit or anything?" Ha! I'm dead back where I come from; this was a one way trip with no refunds at all. That does get me thinking though. After the adventure is over, do I continue living in Thedas or do I pass on to the afterlife, or maybe perhaps Manah, _the bitch_, will send me to another universe to fuck with stuff over there as well? Either of the three I am totally fine with, better than the boring life I had back at home, that's for sure!

"I…uh," Just lie some more, by the time it comes back to bite me on the ass, well, my future self can handle it. "I actually, can't go back to my homeland. I'm what you call an exile." This bit of news/total lie shocked Bethany a bit as she took a small step back. I didn't feel offended by her action, since, well, when you find out that a friend of yours was not allowed to go back home then how would you react? No, seriously leave a review telling me how you'd…

Ahem

"W-why are you an exile? I couldn't imagine someone like you doing something horrible." Realization flickers across her amber eyes and her hand tightens on my shoulder. It didn't hurt but it felt uncomfortable. "Was it because you were a mage?"

"No, no!" I wave my hands frantically in front of me, "Look… the reason why they cast me out… it's complicated." I rub the back of my head to convey that I didn't want to talk about it or that I was uncomfortable with the subject, but I was honestly just trying to buy time for my brain to make something believable and cool and heart-breaking at the same time. So far it was coming up with a blank.

"Vas, listen," Bethany turns me so that I was looking at her. She looked like she understood what I was going through and felt the same I she thought I was feeling. She gave me a smile, "We all have our personal troubles and I won't force you to tell me. Just, remember that I'm here for you. _We're all here for you_. You've helped us and risked your life for us! If there's anything you need; someone to listen to, or a shoulder to lean on… You can count on me. It's the least I could do." She pulls me in an unexpected hug and I couldn't help but return it.

"Thanks, Beth,"

"That's what friends are for, right?" I hope this isn't a foreshadowing of me getting dumped into the friend zone, because that would suck major balls.

**XXXXXX**

"There!" Carver shouts out as he points at the narrow valley the ship was fast approaching. Even this far away, we could see the golden statues of suffering slaves, their hands covering weeping faces. Every passenger came to the deck to catch the first glimpse of their new home.

It had been four more days before our ship even caught sight of the Free Marches. The wind had stayed in our favour and the captain was happy to note that we arrived ahead of schedule. And he couldn't help but boast that we arrived ahead of the other ships. That was good news for us since it would mean easier entrance to the city. Our wagon was the first off and we were practically leading the procession of Ferelden refugees.

But, nothing in life was ever easy right? A wall of guards was already waiting for us and the sight of them caused the Fereldans to start panicking. Questions of why they wouldn't let them in and such were being shouted at the wall of stoic guards. The Hawkes and Aveline looked like they were about to join the crowd when a booming voice echoed over the ruckus.

"The city of Kirkwall is under lockdown! No one is allowed to enter!"

"On whose authority?!" One of the refugees screeched as dozens of people tried to push pass the guards.

"This is a direct order from Viscount Dumar and Knight-Commander Meredith! We will not have the Blight spread into the Free Marches!" I haven't thought about the 'infection' angle being used here. But when you think about it, it did make sense. The corruption could easily spread if any ingested Darkspawn blood. It would be understandable for the cities not yet under siege to close their borders just in case.

_Damn it, we won't be getting in at this rate!_ The shadows easily covered my body to form the Didact's armour. The helmet's 'pieces' clicked into place and I motioned for the group to follow my lead.

And on that note, did you know that I could make shadows edible? Only I could eat them of course and they didn't have any beneficial properties. Except for the fact that it altered my voice and you know whose voice I chose? The voice I chose was** Harbinger**! I could have said Didact because they were both voice by the awesome voice actor _Keith Szarabajka_. And hey, I was in a Bioware game so why not, right? Right?! I could change it to something else, but what else would I need?

How did that work? I had no idea, I just decided to swallow a ball of shadows when I had nothing better to do on the ship and found that this was the effect.

Plus it's freaking plus one hundred for my intimidation check.

Hawke taps me on the shoulder and signals that she would talk the guards first and I let her lead the way. Aveline, Carver and Bethany stand beside her and I stay behind with Leandra and the wagon full of our valuables. My presence and armour were more than enough for robbers to think twice.

"Get back to the crowd you lot! Bullying your way through won't get you into Kirkwall any faster!"

"But do you intend to let us through?" Marian shouts over the rising voices of the Ferelden refugees. Apparently her negotiations weren't working out too well. It was expected, really. Until the city guards are under Aveline's command and Hawke lands the title of 'Champion', then most of them were assholes who hated refugees.

"Ha! We have enough poor of our own in the Free Marches. We don't need refugees piling up here like a midden's heap!"

"There must be someone in charge that we can speak with!" Marian retorts angrily. I could see her fists shaking in anger at how unfair the guards were treating them. Oh dear, when Hawke gets angry, lots of people tend to die painful deaths and this was not going as planned at all! We were here earlier; shouldn't we be allowed easy entrance? Whatever, we needed to get in before more refugees pile at the entrance and I could already see a few more ships making their way to the docks. I needed to crank up my intimidation level to maximum to get us to at least get us passed the wall of guards and talk to Guard-Captain Ewald.

With but a though, a cape (coloured black since there was no other colour I could change the shadows into) and a shadow great sword, formed to look like a Daedric Great Sword from Skyrim, appears holstered onto my back.

"Be careful Vasili," Leandra calls out from the wagon as I approach the wall of guards. Ok, breathe in and breathe out and take a bite out of the ball of shadows you just created at the tip of your clawed gauntlet. Feel it settle around your throat, and action! _Thank Manah, the bitch; I know how to intimidate people because of my sport!_

I make my way towards the Hawke siblings, the crowd of refugees easily parting and silencing as they saw me. Hawke turns and sees me standing behind her. I give her a conspiratorial wink and I was glad that she was quick enough to know when to act. The guards see me next and the wicked blade they see on my back is enough for some of them to raise their shields in case I start swinging.

"Surely," Marian spoke in a silky voice as she turns her body so that they could get a full view of my menacing form, "We can talk to the one in charge. I would absolutely hate it if my friend here loses his temper, no?" I let out a growl that catches everyone off and speak with my new voice.

"**It would be wise to heed Lady Hawke's advice,"** The guards start to look at one another in fear and I could see Bethany blinking at how I sounded. **"You have until the count of ten… nine…"**

"We will not let some overgrown attack dog push the City Guard around! Stand down now!"

"**Five…" **With one hand, I grab the hilt of my sword before slamming it into the ground. The blade was practically weight less so the trick I did was easy to do. It did have the desired effect of showing off my 'strength' to the guards because I could see and hear some of them shaking in their armour. Aveline was shaking her head at how we were dealing with the situation and Carver had to keep elbowing Marian to keep her from laughing and destroying our image.

"You should just call the captain now. He killed an ogre in one blow back in Ferelden, you know. How much of a challenge do you think you will be to _him_?" Bethany pipes up as I reach number two and her words seem to finally knock some sense into one of them as he tells me to stop.

"Alright, we'll take you to the Guard-Captain! Just… just tell him to keep his weapon! We don't need any trouble!" Marian dismisses me with a wave of her hand and I oblige by twirling my sword twice with one hand before putting it back into my back-sheathe. The wall of guard's part to let us and Leandra pass through the checkpoint. Marian leads the way, still trying to stop from laughing out loud and ruining everything.

"That was a reckless gamble you took," said Aveline as she looked at me disapprovingly as I spat out the ball of shadows. "What would have happened if they attacked instead? We would have never gotten into Kirkwall."

"Don't worry Aveline; I knew my plan would work!"

"You did?"

"No, actually, half of the time I was counting off, I was praying that someone would be scared enough to back off." Hey, I _could _have taken them down and all that but killing humans was still a big NO for me. Anything else that isn't a human is free game.

"HA!" Marian couldn't help but bark out a laugh as we caught sight of the Guard-Captain. Just like in the game, he stood at the foot of the stairs, watching the daily activities of the merchants, mages and Templars. He saw our little group and raised both eyebrows as he saw me. This time the group of deserters you first encounter your first time in Kirkwall wasn't talking to him, so hopefully this would be a quick and peaceful conversation.

"I am Guard-Captain Ewald, unless you have some business to attend to in the city or make it worth my while, then we have nothing to talk about," straight to the point as well as establishing himself as a bribe taking jerk. Seriously what was with people with power and corruption? This guy wasn't even hiding the fact that he took bribes, he just outright said he did!

"We have family here! Doesn't that mean anything?" Bethany exclaimed angrily. Apparently even she was capable of snapping at people even though she was a kind girl. I wonder if I should intimidate and scare the shit out of this guy to. He's an asshole so it was about time somebody put him in his place.

"The city's been closed by order of the viscount and Knight-Commander Meredith, whose fortress you're standing in. But as far as you're concerned, I'm in charge," He sneered at the lot of us and I seriously wanted to break this idiot in half.

"Our uncle is Gamlen Amell He knows we're coming! Surely someone could find him," Marian says in frustration. Was I the only one not stressed by this situation? I probably was because even though I had to fight bandits to make a living, escape and kill Darkspawn back in Lothering, and had to kill Aveline's husband, I was having the time of my life.

"Gamlen, I know that name…"

"He's a nobleman in the city. Our family has an estate," Leandra supplied as she hopped off of the wagon.

"A nobleman? The only Gamlen I know is a weasel who couldn't rub two coppers together. He comes back; I'll bring you to him. But I don't have time to-" A group of Templars appear at the top of the steps and I could see everyone tense and stand a little bit closer to Bethany. I'm already bending my knees halfway, ready to touch the closest shadow so I could incapacitate them.

Then something totally unsuspected happens as the Knight-Commander emerges behind the group of Templars. This was definitely not in the game, but granted we were early so who knows what the NPC's did at that time. She looks around the courtyard for a while, checking if there were any trouble was happening inside her fortress. A few mages loitering around quickly walk back to their part of the Gallows and the guards around the place stand a little bit straighter.

And then she spots our little group and decides to go towards us. Bethany was keeping calm, but the group of Templars heading directly towards us. Even with what I taught her, this was way beyond anything she knew.

_I guess I have to put on my thinking cap and start making up lies to get us out of here. No way can I intimidate or charm my through the Knight-Commander!_

Meredith walked down the stairs, completely ignored the Hawkes and stopped right in front of me. I have no idea what I had done, but shit was about to hit the fan.

"Vasili Attano, I presume?" How did she know my completely fake and made up name? What the hell was going on here?

"Yes, Knight-Commander," I opt to take off my helmet the old fashioned way instead of the usual retraction. Why would I tip her off that I was a mage? But maybe she already knew I was a mage since she knew my fake name as well?

"If you will come with us, The Grand Cleric of the Anderfels has travelled a long way just to catch up with you." What, Grand Cleric of the Anderfels? But no one has ever seen the Anderfels in the games before! I don't even know who she is, how would she know who _I _was in the first place?

"Pardon my ignorance, Knight-Commander, but why would the Grand Cleric want to meet up with me of all people? I-I'm a sell-sword, nobody!" Things were progressing badly and I was pretty sure Manah was to blame here. Who the hell was the Grand Cleric of the Anderfels anyway!

"You are hardly, nobody Messere Attano. Now come, we shouldn't keep Her Grace waiting. Grand Cleric Elthina is with her now as well," She looks to the side where the Hawkes and Aveline were looking at us with confused expressions as well, "You people can come along as well, if you wish," There was definitely no other answer we can give her because the dozen or so Templars surround us and guide us into Kirkwall.

_Well, at least we're inside the city now._

**XXXXXX**

We made our way through Low town without much trouble and into High town as well in silence.

"Vas, what's going on? How do you know the Grand Cleric of the Anderfels?" Bethany asked as she went to walk by my side.

"I'd like to know that as well," Piped in Marian as she matched my stride to walk beside me as well.

"We all want to know what is going on," Leandra said from behind me.

"Believe me if I knew what was going on, I'd tell you guys." I had not planned on things happening differently than what I know from the game. I've read about it in other self-insert fics, but never gave it much thought when I was thrown here. Was it my presence that was changing things here or was it Manah trying to screw with me?

We soon made it into the Chantry and in front of the double set of stairs were Templar Knights in black and red ensemble. Think of it as instead of the silver armour they wore, they were black. What really had me thinking that Manah was behind this little change was the fact that the black armour they wore looked like they were made out of the same material my armour was made of, which were shadows.

"I've never seen Templars wear that kind of armour before," it was Carver who spoke and I turned to see him looking at them appreciatively. Hey wasn't he going to join the Templars if you didn't take him to the Deep Roads Expedition? And if Bethany was left behind she would be sent to the Mage's circle in the gallows.

"Me neither, the Templars were pretty strict about their uniforms. Wesley never told me about Templars with these colours before." Ever since being corralled by the Templars, Aveline had transferred her sword sheathe to her hip and kept her hand on it the whole time. At the top of the steps was a woman wearing robes with the same colour scheme as the Templars. Her outer robe was a midnight black while the inner robes were dyed a deep crimson. The woman herself was stunning, with alabaster skin perfectly contrasting with her long red, swept back hair. Emerald eyes followed our little group slowly as we ascended the steps.

"Mother Sofia, thank you for waiting for us." Meredith greeted with a deep bow. The rest of her Templars bowed as well and we were probably the only ones who didn't. "Thankfully, we found Messere Attano the minute we arrived at the Gallows."

Sofia smiled at Meredith softly, both hands clasped in front of her as if in prayer, "Your reputation for getting the job done as efficiently as possible precedes you, Knight-Commander. Maker smile on you," She gave a half bow before turning to look at me directly.

"It is so good to see you again, Vasili." How the hell did she know me? Who the hell was this anyway? She was never in the game or the books or the comics! I give a stiff nod in return at this and Mother Sofia opens the giant doors for us. "Please enter; both the Grand Clerics are waiting for your arrival."

_Please tell me Manah did not put me in another person's body! I hope she just created a real history for me instead, that would make me feel a little better right now._

As soon as I, the Hawke family, Aveline, the Knight-Commander as well as Mother Sofia enter the threshold, we could hear the soft sounds of piano music filling the air. And once I recognised the song, I _knew_ that Manah was behind this little shocker.

_Crimson lights_

_The sky,_

_The bird still asleep_

_Like a dream_

_It shines,_

_From heaven__'__s safe keep_

_Children's songs_

_We sung,_

_As soft as the breeze_

_Endless fields,_

_Our home,_

_I long for those days_

Seriously Manah, are you really singing **Growing Wings **from the Drakengard soundtrack? I am not impressed at all.

_I call out these prayers to the sky, heavy with thought, see your face_

_I carry these memories inside, thoughts of a soul_

_Coloured by love_

_See me grow wings and fly high, passions will die_

_Down below_

_I burn in a basin of fire; watchers look on as they dance in their merciless sky_

_Watching me,_

**Watching you**

Apparently though, everyone else was enchanted by her voice because they listen in awe at how beautiful her voice was.

_Silent black,_

_The dawn,_

_And time tell its tale_

_Darkened blood,_

_It flows,_

_The forest receives_

_Look within_

_The dark_

_As deep as you dare_

_There inside_

_You find_

_Destruction you seek_

We slowly made our way towards the elevated alter, where we could see two people. One was seated at the piano that was set in front of Andraste's golden statue. _The other was standing behind the first, head bowed low and hands together as if in prayer. _

_I call out these prayers to the sky, heavy with thought, see your face_

_I carry these memories inside, thoughts of a soul_

_Coloured by love_

_See me grow wings and fly high, passions will die_

We ascended the stairs quietly, most out of respect for the one playing on the piano so that she wouldn't be disturbed while I just didn't want to catch their attention. The one standing behind the pianist was Grand Cleric Elthina, her matronly appearance calm and serene as she listens to the soothing yet very ominous song if you know where the song came from and if you understood the message behind it.

_Down below_

_I burn in a basin of fire; watchers look on as they dance in their merciless sky_

We were close enough to see who the pianist is and I couldn't help but face palm as I see who was playing. _I should have guessed it_, I thought to myself as I look at and adult version of Manah playing the piano, completely absorbed in her performance. Why does she keep changing her appearance anyway? First it was her six year old self, then it was her twenty-something year old self and now it was like an upgraded version of her twenty-something self because I do not remember her having those curves back in Ferelden.

_Watching me,_

**Watching you**

"I used to sing this to you back home. Do you remember Vasili?" Manah asks as she slowly turns to lock her blood red eyes with mine. Aside from the upgraded figure, she still looked exactly the same, pale skin, short blond hair. She was wearing the same colour schemed as Mother Sofia and I finally remember that this was the same colour her clothes were in the first Drakengard game.

"I do," I say simply as I watch her stand from her seat before closing the cover for the piano keys. She takes her time as she straightens her robes before approaching us. I think she also got a bit taller because now the top of her head reached just underneath my nose. We stare at each other for a long while, me with a questioning gaze while she just looks up to me and smiles. A small dainty hand slowly takes one of mine and my eyebrows continue to go up into my hairline,

"How long has it been, since your exile?"

"A while," _Fuck her for not filling me in on this!_

"You say a while, but I think five years can't be used within 'a while'," She giggles at her own joke as she brings my gauntlet covered hand to her cheek and lets out a soft sigh. Everyone takes in a sharp breathe as they find out that I've been exiled for five years now and I was pretty surprised as well. But this little acting sketch was fraying my nerves badly and with a heavy sigh, I pull my hand away from Manah.

"Alright, why are you here Manah?" I say as I cross my arms in agitation. The action seemed to have garnered a negative response from the group behind us because more gasps come from them. "I don't think you're even supposed to be here!" Manah seemed nonplussed by it only clenching both hands into fists before dropping them to her sides.

"Couldn't an older sister visit her _baby brother_?"

"What?!" All of us turn to look at Marian who had quickly covered her mouth with both hands. She was blushing all the way to her roots and by the way she was shrinking in on herself, she wanted to disappear. "S-sorry, don't mind us! We'll… just be waiting outside the Chantry!" With that everyone besides Meredith, Elthina, Manah and I, leaves the Chantry and stand outside the grand doors.

"Thank you, for this Elthina! You don't know how much this means to me, to my family. I am in your debt," Manah bowed at waist level, but Elthina was quick to stop her.

"Nonsense, my dear, family is important to all of us. I'll give you some privacy." She gives a polite nod to Meredith before she ascends the steps to her private quarters.

I couldn't help but pinch the bridge of my nose to distract me from the growing headache I felt, "Seriously Manah, what are you doing here? You are ruining so many things just by being in Kirkwall!"

"Don't be such a drama queen! I can't interfere with anything directly, only influence what people do. By showing up and practically telling everyone that you have friends in high places, and then I'm just helping speed up the process of your credibility. No one would want to work with a 'nobody' right?" The headache was actually getting worse at this point, "because seven years from now, the Knight-Commander will need your help in culling the mage threat."

"Wait, I thought you were giving me free reign to do and choose whatever? Now I'm siding with the Templars at the End Game?" Manah smiles at my question before leaning back on the piano. She lets out a content sigh for a reason I don't know before replying,

"Whatever you do from this point to the end game, I leave that up to you. But I suggest you start collecting followers, people willing to fight and die for you because when the time comes, you'd need an army at your beck and call. And besides, this will also help you through the crises you will come across in the future; the Qunari invasion for example." Why was she talking about this and not in dreams anyway? Spilling future events in front of the Knight-Commander, what's up with that?

"Don't worry about Meredith, _Vasili_; she is a devout Andrastian that will help our cause."

"I get that, but won't revealing events that haven't happened ruin everything we're planning?" And what was with the Knight-Commander being silent about all this? Shouldn't she be angry that we knew what would happen in the next seven years and didn't plan to prevent them? "Wait, did you just read my thoughts? That's uncool, Manah!"

Manah sighs tiredly before making her way towards the Knight-Commander, who I notice was still at the same position she was when we first arrived. "I always love it when I find individuals who were so bound to a calling. Fanatics are my favourite, ask me why." Couldn't she just tell me straight away? Why was she being so round about?

"Fine, why are fanatics your favourite Manah?"

"They are the most susceptible to my influence. Just like Meredith here. She's so beautiful, isn't she?"

"This is going into really weird territory very fast." I was starting to feel uncomfortable about all this; how Manah was circling Meredith like a predator, how she ran a finger along Meredith's armour.

"I know you've thought of depraved things about the Knight-Commander. What you wanted to do with her, _how_ you wanted to do her." Super uncomfortable right now, how the hell did we get so off topic? I thought we were talking about why she was throwing wrenches at the plan I thought of back in Lothering?

"Ok, I'll bite. How exactly do you know that? Did you go through my Laptop's history or something, because that would be impossible because I always go incognito when browsing… the questionable websites?"

"Your mind is like an open book to me. I know your ideals, your darkest secrets, your deepest desires. But, let's not go there right now, ok? Let's get back to talking about the Knight-Commander and why she's so…" I could hear her doing something to Meredith's armour. With a final click, "compliant," her breastplate fell to the ground and I started freaking out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the fuck are you doing Manah? How…is she not angry or not doing anything at all?" Manah ignored me as she proceeded to untie the chainmail underneath the armour. It fell away easily enough and all that was left underneath was her underclothes a.k.a. underwear. I really wanted to ask Manah one more time what the hell was going on but the distraction right in front of me was so… Why was everyone in this dimension so gifted! How old is Meredith anyway and why is she so hot?!

"The Knight-Commander lives and breathes the Chantry. Everything she does is for this so-called 'Maker' of hers."

"Hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing!"

"If your intentions were pure and true, then it is most definitely _not_ a bad thing. But, of course, the people who do things with pure intentions are extremely rare in your world, this world, any world. Most of the time, humans do it for different reasons; money, power, status… For Meredith it was revenge." Manah didn't stop with the armour. She cast aside Meredith's hood as well as the circlet she wore. She didn't stop until the Knight-Commander was fully nude and I started to worry about people suddenly barging in and stopping the show- I mean, uh, something? "It was child's play for me to latch on to that and manipulate what she believed in and now here she is; the once proud Templar just another bitch under my heel." I hope she didn't do anything this crazy to me. It would suck if she did this to me and I can't remember anything about it. On a side note, Meredith has a rocking body.

"I give up! What the hell is going on! Why did you strip the Knight-Commander? Why are you fucking with her mind? What the fuck?!" _I am confused beyond being confused right now._

"Vasili, can you try and pay attention to what I'm trying to teach you here? Maker, it's like I'm teaching a child!"

"Hey!"

"What have I've been saying so far? What can you get out of this little demonstration?" All this to teach me something, where was the logic in all of this?

"Can you just answer it for me? I can't even begin to understand all of this and the naked woman in front of me is very distracting." Manah sighs loudly before shaking her head. She even started tsk-ing at me!

"Disappointing," She pushed down on Meredith's shoulder to get her to kneel, "I just taught you another aspect of your power, silly! Meredith had darkness festering in her heart. What does your gift let you do?"

"Control darkness?" I say unsurely, because honestly my brain is going up in flames right now trying to connect how things ended up like this.

"Yes, Darkness and all of its forms is under your command. So far, I've seen you create from the darkness and you have taken the first tentative steps in trying to give life to your creations. You're almost there by the way, but your missing one last thing."

"Which is?" I ask but Manah ignores the question completely.

"For the first part of your quest, that was more than enough. Now though, you cannot just go around killing everyone in your way. Now you have to learn how to manipulate and control certain people to get the most desired outcome. Kirkwall is all about politics and you need to have people in power at the palm of your hands to do so."

"This power seems too good to be true. It's like you just gave me the cheat code for activating god mode in this dimension or something! Making things this easy for me is going to be really boring and stuff, it will be fun and all, but still!" Manah smiles again before replying,

"Nothing in life is ever easy. You have to learn how to control this side of your powers because you won't be able to suddenly brainwash people at a whim." She straightens up before brushing off imaginary dirt from her robes. "Now then, you have completed the first part of your quest in this dimension and things will only start getting harder from here."

"Ok?"

"The 'tutorial' phase is complete and now it's all up to you to survive until the end game. Good luck, my champion, if you need advice all you need is to find me."

"Wait, what am I supposed to do with Meredith!" Manah's form starts to waver, disappearing like she was just an illusion.

"Whatever you want to, Vasili," Half of her body is gone now.

"Giving me this much power isn't good you know! Absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that jazz!" Only her smirking visage remained now.

"Isn't that the whole point of this whole adventure?" With that last weird comment, she vanishes. _Alright Vas, just role with the punches I guess_. You just found out in a very complex way that I have been granted 'Mary Sue' privileges, except that I'm not a fictional character but the author himself. And I would probably abuse the shit out of my powers now and will probably use it to do stuff that every pervert in the gaming society could only dream of.

Wait, isn't a Mary Sue character supposed to be perfect from the very beginning? Was I acting all perfect in the very beginning? Well, whatever, I am going to go back and enjoy this little adventure with a newfound enthusiasm! Complete powah!

Now what was I going to do with Meredith now? Alright, you've seen lots of things on the internet about mind control and stuff. Just instruct her to act normal around other people until we're both alone and stuff, that's how it usually works right? But, maybe I should test out how well the mind control is working first?

Decisions, decisions…

**XXXXXX**

In the end I told the brainwashed Knight-Commander to get dressed before people start wondering what was taking us so long and investigate. I did not want the Hawke's finding me in a compromising position with Meredith right now because that will ruin any credibility or trust that I had built up for the last six months and that would be bad. So with an instruction to act like your normal self unless ordered otherwise both of us exited to Chantry to find the Hawke family and Aveline still waiting for us. Luckily, I thought about this moment of silent awkwardness and gave Meredith my first order.

"We will try to find serrah Gamlen as soon as possible. Good day, Messere Attano." She gives a curt nod to me before marching off with the rest of her Templars. Now that I think about it, doesn't this mean that I control the Templars now since Meredith was my sexy puppet? I could get used to all this powah.

_Ah shit, not even ten minutes in and I'm already starting to get drunk with power._ I silently laugh at that before giving a wave to the staring Hawkes and Aveline. The first to approach me, of course, was Marian. She quirked an eyebrow at me which clearly meant that I should explain what happened inside.

"So, I should really explain what all that was, huh?"

"You should,"

"Right, right, so as you guys found out the Grand Cleric of the Anderfels is my sister. And I am obviously from the Anderfels as well," Lying always helps in tight situations like this.

"And what was the reason you were exiled exactly? Your sister being the Grand Cleric and all is usually a great card to play when you're in trouble." Aveline asks as she crosses her arms. She didn't look angry but was genuinely curious about my fake made up situation. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head like this subject was a sore spot for me.

"It's not a great card to play when she was the one to order your exile in the first place…"

"What, b-but I thought family meant everything to your people!" That was Carver speaking for the what, third time since I've met him? I always thought he would start whining about everything.

"Yes, but she didn't just exile me on a whim! She had to choose between me and the people who looked up to her for guidance! She had to sacrifice one for a million others…" Whoa, where did this emotion come from all of a sudden? I've never been this good at lying.

"That's horrible," I turned to look at Bethany and smiled at her. I've never met anyone who was kind to everyone like Bethany, sweet girl.

"It was the right thing to do, in the end." Hearing the sounds of heavy metal boots going up the stairs to the Chantry, we all see a Templar escorting an irate Gamlen. His frown disappears however when he catches sight of us, or more specifically; Leandra.

"Leandra! Damn girl, the years have not been kind to you," Gamlen says to my confusion. How can the years be not kind to her, she looks amazing for a woman her age!

"Gamlen," She greets happily enough but stopped when her brother raised a hand.

"Let me say up front, I wasn't expecting this. The Blight, your husband dead... I'd, ah, figured you'd pretty much be Ferelden for life!" He averts his eyes, not looking at Leandra. I already knew the reason why he was acting so suspicious but I wonder if anyone else noticed how he was acting, how his body language and tone of voice was not welcoming at all.

"Oh brother it was horrible! The Darkspawn came and killed everyone in Lothering!"

"And what exactly do you want me to do? You're already inside Kirkwall and it seems to me that you have friends powerful enough to boss around Templars!" I hate Gamlen, to tell you guys the truth. Throughout all three chapters he was just an asshole all the way.

"We've all saved plenty of coin back in Ferelden, but relying on that isn't really the best idea. We need jobs." That was Aveline this time. You're probably wondering why I'm not just throwing money at all their problems like I originally intended, but you have to realize that everyone here was fiercely independent. They want to earn and succeed through adversity rather than ask people for money. So it wasn't just the game developers thinking that the missions were a way of giving you quests by collecting a set amount of money, but it also reflected the character of the person.

"Ok, maybe I can contact a few acquaintances of mine for that; it won't be glamorous jobs though. Nothing in Kirkwall is ever glamorous."

"Thank you so much, Gamlen. Is it alright if we go the estate first? It's been a long trip…" Gamlen starts to fidget and averts his eyes at this, wringing his hands together nervously.

"Right, about the estate, it's uh, gone. To settle a debt, I've been meaning to write you."

"Surely not everything is gone!"

"Sadly, yes, everything is gone now. I was evicted into Low town _because_ everything is gone."

"You guys can stay with me for the time being if you like." I say before the drama could continue. I myself wanted to just crash. "As for the jobs though, it's better to go with Gamlen." I just notice that I was still holding my helmet, huh. Without further ado I put it back on. I don't really need to be in full armour but I feel better with it on. "It's like an unspoken rule here in Kirkwall; you can succeed either by being a mercenary, a smuggler, a whore, or a noble."

"Or a slaver," Adds Gamlen

"Or a slaver," I nod. There was a soft clearing of someone's throat and all of us turned to see Mother Sofia smiling at us. As soon as everyone's attention was on her she gave a polite nod towards me.

"You lot will have to work hard to make a name for yourselves though," Gamlen says, "This is a tough town to live in. It will take at least a _year_ before you can get any recognition from someone important enough!"

"Messere Attano, if you will follow me to your estate, we can get you and your guests settled." She didn't even wait for a reply before marching off. Hopefully since we were already in High town we didn't have to go anywhere far because walking up those steps from Low town? That was a fucking nightmare, I tell ya what.

"The voyage is over, we've finally made it to Kirkwall," Leandra says with a sigh. The Hawke children smile at that as they walk alongside their mother. Aveline stays at the back of the group also happy that everyone was finally safe. I myself felt relieved that the Prologue of this adventure was over with and now we could progress through the story line. As early as now, I was already thinking if I would get sent into another dimension once this one was over with.

_I wonder if I'll go through Mass Effect as well, finish off Bioware's games before jumping to another franchise. Wouldn't that be fun…?_

"The Blight may still spread, but for now we have a new home," Marian says with a smile as she looks at the different Merchant stand we were passing by. High town was a lot bigger in person than what they showed you in the game, there were more houses and some of them were at least four stories tall. Citizens in fancy robes wore golden rings on each finger and pearl necklaces or diamond earrings without a care in the world. The streets were practically shining by how clean they were.

"Let's see what happens. We have a long year ahead of us"

**XXXXXX**

"Thus began the Champion's first year in Kirkwall. Word arrived from across the sea that the Hero of Ferelden had defeated the Blight. But Lothering was destroyed. Kirkwall was the Champion's home now. So she made her name, settling debts with the mercenaries and smugglers she had to work with. It was a busy year in the city. That's when the Qunari landed. A great storm caught their ship and left hundreds of warriors stranded in the city, waiting to return home. That's also when the trouble began with the mages. The Templars had become very powerful under Knight-Commander Meredith. But most importantly, that's when I first met the Champion.

"As for Vasili Attano, he stayed in the shadows where he thrived. He started recruiting outcasts and the scums of the land and formed his own, fast expanding mercenary band; _Dead Cell_. Pretty soon, he and the Champion were making a name for themselves. The Hawke's for being one of the best, if not _the _best, swords for hire and Vasili for being the man to approach if you wanted a new start in life. But one thing they had established during their first year in Kirkwall, you do not fuck with either."

**End Chapter 2**

**Go to YouTube and find Growing Wings, Drakengard 2 version, if you want to listen to it. Don't go for Drakengard 1 version because you won't hear the lyrics at all.**

**Some of you may ask why Manah started doing the crazy stuff and to answer that question, I wanted to show how Manah was an evil bitch. She doesn't care about anything else aside from the completion of her task. If she alters anything too heavily in a dimension by bringing in an unknown variable into the equation, then so be it. If she finds anyone she can brainwash to do her bidding to accomplish her goals, then so be it. If she gives away god-like powers to someone who will probably abuse it, hey as long as the job gets done then so be it!**

**Also note that she is a chronic liar.**

**Leave a review and tell me your thoughts on this, or if you're busy how about a word or smile to tell me that you enjoyed my fic? Constructive criticism is appreciated and any misspelled word or wrong grammar you find, please tell me so that I can fix it. :)**

**Also, if you don't like the story, then that's alright with me but please do not take the time to send something negative my way.**

**Have a question, ask and I'll try to answer as soon as I am able to but know that the questions you have will probably be answered in the next chapters.**

**Until chapter 3 then, next weekend as always…**

**Bye **


	3. Chapter 3

One year passes quickly in Kirkwall.

The Hawke family tirelessly work to try and regain what they had lost in Lothering: A place to call home. Carver, Bethany and Marian quickly make a name for themselves in the Underworld of Kirkwall. Mercenaries and smugglers now know them for people who could get things done, or if you make an enemy out of them; people who you should hide from. Marian, Carver and Bethany had made names of themselves for being 'good' mercenaries as they would only accept jobs that did not victimize anyone who did not deserve it. Leandra on the other hand was quick to try and regain the reputation the Amell name once had as well as reclaiming the estate. With her strict supervision, Gamlen was forced to straighten his life and with the backbone that his sister provided him, he was able to recover both the Amell name from disgrace and the estate when an anonymous tip was sent to the city guards that slavers were squatting inside their home. The slavers could not defend their claim on the property since the will and papers mysteriously vanished from the family vault.

With no one living inside the estate as well as proof that Leandra now owned everything, the Viscount granted them the estate back just after a months' time.

Aveline quickly enlisted and was accepted by the guards. With her extensive background as a soldier back in Ferelden, there was no reason for them not to recruit her. Her code of honour and drive to make things better for Kirkwall caught the attention of well-to-do nobles and with their favour; she quickly ascended the ranks of the guards. Although Aveline was a strict believer of earning your way to success, she was nevertheless happy that her new position as a lieutenant in the guards would help her in protecting the citizens of Kirkwall better. Of course, this fast promotion had its consequences as the current Guard-Captain, Jeven, would try and stonewall any idea she had to try and improve the city guard's daily lives.

Vasili, after the Hawke's left his High town estate went underground for that year. Just like what Manah advised him to do, he started his own mercenary group within Kirkwall as well as the rest of the Free Marches. He would absorb different groups into his own when he learned that their current leaders had somehow passed away. The mercenaries and smugglers did not hesitate when his offer to join his band came to their doorstep.

Although the name Vasili Attano itself did not gain recognition, the reputation of his company did. _Dead Cell _was the very first legalized mercenary company and possibly the largest in the Free Marches. They were known best for their protection services. They accepted other, less legal jobs than what they were known for but the discretion of both the client as well as the company itself made sure that only the most trusted and richest clients would be able to gain access to those services. But one thing that Dead Cell never dared touch was Slavery. Vasili never showed his temper to his subordinates. The only time he did was when one of the old officers of one of the groups he had integrated into Dead Cell argued that not tapping into the Slavery business was practically throwing away good money. Vasili had said his final piece on the matter but the officer insisted and downright challenged Vasili's leadership.

Vasili finally lost his temper and accepted the challenge.

Almost a year after, no one even dared think of going against him. The people present during the duel had remained tight lipped about what had happened, in both respect to their leader and fear in their leaders wrath.

Marian, Bethany, Carver and Aveline grew worried when they would try and visit him at his family estate but never seemed to be home. The servants were present but when asked, they would always say that Vas had not come home that day. Of course, this led to Marian asking her information contacts about their wayward friend. That in turn led to them finding about the quick rise of _Dead Cell _and its expanding influence in the Free Marches.

They had finally confronted him, however, when they had a chance encounter with him in Low town. Aveline had asked Marian, Carver and Bethany to accompany her in her patrol. Reports were coming into the Viscount's Keep that there was an outbreak gang related violence in Low town and the Lieutenant was sent to quell the disturbance. Of course, with the captain trying to sabotage/get rid of her she was sent alone when she was supposed to be accompanied by a platoon of other guards. This didn't hinder Aveline at all since she went straight to the Hawke siblings to enlist their help.

And that's how they found Vasili and three unknown's knee deep in dead bodies.

**XXXXXX**

One full year had finally passed in Kirkwall. You would think that one whole year would be a lot of time for someone to build his own mercenary group. And you know what? It was, although keeping as busy as I did will really make time fly. I spent every day working, working on creating a mercenary group, maintaining and expanding said group and making a name for ourselves. The first few months were the hardest as I had to find people trustworthy, or people easy enough to brainwash into trustworthy people, to work for me.

One of the first to join my group was a man named Sun Downer. He was a human who was at least seven and a half feet tall and probably weighed four hundred pounds easily. He was once a blacksmith back in Ferelden who had to flee from the Blight with his family to the Free Marches. He wasn't as lucky as the Hawkes and I since he had to give everything he had saved from his home as a bribe to the Guard-Captain. He had to beg or work for scraps to keep his family alive. At first, I hired him out of pity, but seeing him make weapons and armour and work in the smithy was like watching an artist. I got my gold's worth out of him.

Sun Downer was quite a simple man, with long black hair and a thick beard to match. He was friendly to anyone who was friendly to him in return. For such a big man, he talked in soft tones and rarely raised his voice. He loved his family above all else. I approached him in Low town with a job offer and at first he didn't want anything to do with a job that might endanger his family, but once I told him that my group would offer security services instead of hired killers and robbers he was quick to accept. He could easily wield a war hammer with one hand and was a decent fighter.

The second trustworthy person I found to work for me was a dwarf named Grom (Like that battering ram from _Lord of the Rings: Return of the King_) who was raised back in Orzammar as a warrior. He didn't like the idea of staying underground, which was weird for dwarves born in the underground cities, and travelled to the Free Marches to start a new life. He was a master at wielding his shield and axe like they were just extensions of his own hands. He had no hair on his head except for the thick, braided red beard on his face. He also had an intricate tattoo where his hair should be.

The third and last trustworthy person I found was an elf maiden named Sin Kaiser, no idea about the origins of her name, who preferred to dual wield identical daggers. She was a savant at making and using poisons and traps and had the knack of being able to disappear when she stepped into the shadows. She wasn't a master of disappearing like I had become but she was pretty good. For a person who was good at disappearing, I guess you could say her looks worked against her. She had long, platinum blond hair and lightly tanned skin. Her most striking feature was her amethyst coloured eyes, and those only increased her ethereal beauty.

She was born and raised as a Dalish elf, but just like Grom, decided to travel around against the orders of her clan. She had told me once that she felt like an outsider in her family and here, with Dead Cell, she felt like this was meant to be her home all along.

Aside from those three, my most trusted generals so to speak; I had a few thousand 'employees' under my command. Most of them came from pre-existing groups like the Red Irons which I 'obtained' when the leaders either agreed to merge with us or mysteriously passed away. Hey don't judge, it's a dog eat dog world in the Free Marches, survival of the fittest and all that!

Sin Kaiser and Grom were usually the ones I would send out to acquire more groups and offer them a place in Dead Cell. If they agreed then they would be sent to Kirkwall to go through training with Sun Downer. I did this so not everyone was a bunch of useless cannon fodder. If I was the leader of a mercenary group, I would want all my men to be badasses. I want them to be the unexpected mini-bosses you find in RPG games.

Meredith was a big help with this, teaching me what I needed to know in managing an army. She taught me how to gain the loyalty of my men as well as the ability to micromanage a continent wide business, so to speak.

On a side note, this whole 'manipulating the darkness within' power was pretty fucking useful. It was a bit tricky to learn how to do it, but once you do you get the hang of it instantly. It's like how you learn how to wiggle your ears for the first time? It's hard to figure out how at first but once you do, it's a piece of cake.

Anyway, back on track, Meredith also helped improve my swordsmanship which also meant greatly improving my physical fitness. I tried training with her every night but could only manage at least four times a week. Either way I could feel myself improving every day. I got faster, stronger and reacted quicker. I thought I was fast and strong with my judo training but the _visual _progress was actually much more rewarding. In one word: abs

With my strength as well as my army growing fast, it wasn't soon that the politicians and do-gooders started seeing me as a threat. A lot of them petitioned for my arrest and to get my company either hunted down or immediately disbanded as well as giving them the fortune I had collected and earned. Other politicians hired assassins to get rid of me, quick and easy.

After months of this, I retaliated with a simple piece of parchment: a simple piece of parchment that stated that I had the backing of Grand Cleric Mana and Elthina as well as approval from the Templars under their jurisdiction. It was easy to get Grand Cleric Elthina's support when Meredith had my back. It also worked in my favour when I told her we only offered protection and security services for those who needed it. And that's how I 'legalized' Dead Cell.

All this was quite fun, like an RTS game except that you had to wait days to confirm troop movements. Without phones or radios or internet, _I miss the internet_, communication took a lot of time.

Everything was fine and dandy, but as the year ended another problem decided to show its ugly head. With the legalization of Dead Cell, lots of people were more willing to do business with us. Who wouldn't trust a company with Chantry and Templar approval? Of course this meant that any other mercenary groups that hadn't joined us yet lost a lot of business. This in turn led them to band together to try and get rid of me. I told them that they were free to join but they were a greedy bunch, wanting the spoils all to themselves. I gave them one last chance to back off before things got messy and instead of being smart about it, they started attacking my people in Kirkwall.

"Are you kidding me?" I heard myself asking Sun Downer. He had burst into my 'family' estate in High town bearing the news that we were under attack in Low town. The outposts and safe houses I bought were being attacked and fire bombed. Some of my people were injured but thankfully none of them got killed, yet. We had to act fast and as I summoned and formed the Didact's armour around my form I ordered Sun Downer to alert Grom and Sin Kaiser as well. He told me that they would split up to deal with any threat they came across in Low town and I only gave a nod before making my way to the damned stairs.

The situation was worse than I thought once I arrived. People were openly fighting in the middle of the streets. Civilians were trying to get away from the fighting and my people tried their best to protect everyone at the same time fighting off the attackers. I didn't waste time in forming the Daedric Great Sword from the shadows and chopping off one of the attackers head.

"It's the boss!" One of the Dead Cell mercenaries, my people, shouted in glee as I backhanded another attacker that tried to stab me in the back. Who were these people again? I can't just keep calling them attackers after all. I stomped on a shadow and every other reacted by spiking upwards, impaling a few dozen non-Dead Cell mercenary. My actions freed up my people to escort the civilians to safety and to support their comrades.

I marched through Low town, getting rid of any obstacle in my way. More and more of my mercenaries gathered behind me. With my arrival, morale was significantly boosted and my men fought more fiercely.

One of the rouges tried to stab me in the back but the shadows that formed my armour quickly lashed out and grabbed both the man's arms. I turned to bury my sword into his gut. Rogues were awesome when on my side but a real pain in my ass when against. I ripped my sword sideways, spilling the unlucky bastard's guts all over the dusty floor.

"Sir," one of the scouts called out to me and I turned to look at her, "Sun Downer and Grom are one their way here. Sin Kaiser was seen heading to the east side of Low town. She will join us once she clears that side of the city," Sin was really bloodthirsty. She wouldn't start killing everyone randomly, but once she knows who her enemies were, she wouldn't stop until all of them were cut down by her blades. I gave a short nod before proceeding further in. Hopefully the city guards would think twice before approaching us. Aveline could be pretty scary when she got angry.

"Spread out and secure this area, make sure the civilians are safe! The rest of you, wait for Grom and Sun." They were quick to comply with my orders and soon enough dozens were running into alleyways to check if we had left anyone behind, ally or not. I on the other hand walked towards a nearby crate and sat down. I watched as a dozen mercenaries stayed to clean up the streets.

"I thought you were on the other side of the city?" I asked. A second later, Sin appeared by my side as quiet as the wind. She was covered in blood but none of them were hers. Her armour, skin as well as her hair was practically drenched in it. She smiled at me before bowing.

"The situation there has stabilized. Our troops are in the process of cleaning up stragglers as we speak. I thought it prudent to be here with you," Her daggers were still in hand and with a casual flick of her wrists, she banished the blood to the ground. "Where are Grom and Sun Downer?"

"On their way down right now," I turned to look at her from the corner of my eyes, "Who the fuck is _stupid_ enough to attack us in our home base?" I might have added too much menace in my voice because the elf maiden visibly flinched.

"I-It was the Flint mercenary company."

_Weren't they the same people who killed Sebastian's family in Starkhaven?_ I thought to myself quietly. I turned to the troops trying to figure out what to do with the dead bodies and shouted, "Just pile them up and burn them later!"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!" That was Grom, laughing in his deep and scratchy voice. He was splattered with some blood just like Sin and Sun Downer behind him. He was the sarcastic one in the group and sometimes I just wanted to hurt him real bad.

"Now's not the time you stupid dwarf!" Sin hissed at him. She motioned the two of them to notice my less than stellar mood. I have to confess, I haven't been getting enough sleep this pass year. Everything was blurred into one long day and I really needed a vacation. I miss the Hawkes, especially Bethany. She was always a ray of sunshine that never failed to lighten my mood.

"Vas," Speak of the devil, I turned and saw the three Hawke siblings as well as Aveline making their way towards me. And by the looks of things, Aveline was not pleased at all. Ah shit

As the group of four of my first friends came closer, so too did my generals hover around me protectively. Hey, I said they were loyal and I improving their lives merited a life debt in Thedas. Sun was at the forefront and stopped them with a raised hand. He was about to warn them when I interrupted.

"Maker, stand down Sunny! Their old friends of mine," The three generals reluctantly moved aside, letting all four pass and stand in front of me. I stood up from the crate to properly greet them.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Hawke siblings and Aveline! I haven't seen you guys in a while!" I tried to sweep all four of them in a group hug but a palm to the face courtesy of Aveline stopped that before I could go any further.

"It's nice to see you too, Vasili. How long has it been since we last saw each other, a year?" Marian didn't mind hugging me in greeting and Bethany silently hugged me as well. I opened my arms mockingly to Carver but he just flipped me the bird, the tit.

"Has it been a year? Time flies when you're busy!" I say happily. Seriously, just being with these guys was taking off a weight from my shoulders that I didn't know was there. I smile a bit wider before asking, "So I've heard all of you made a name for yourselves! The Hawke siblings known for people who got the job done and Aveline, the Lieutenant of the City Guards who was able to decrease the crimes in Kirkwall significantly. Colour me impressed!"

"Not as impressed as we are when we found out that you're the founder and leader of Dead Cell. How did you manage that one?" Carver asked curiously.

"A silver tongue and a strong arm," Grom whispered to Sin who elbowed him in the face to shut him up. Normally she would have aimed for the stomach or the diaphragm but she tended to forget that Grom was significantly shorter than her. Or did she?

"Anyway," I turned to look at my three generals before looking back, "What brings you to this part of town?" Aveline stepped forward at this, clearly wanting to be the one to answer my question.

"There have been reports of attacks here in Low town, gang related violence and the like. Did you have anything to do with this?" Wow, Aveline was making it clear that she was accusing me of this, but luckily I was the innocent one. Wait, I've always been the innocent one.

"Blame the Flint Mercenary Company for this whole mess. They couldn't handle some friendly competition and decided to try and get rid of us!"

"Did they forget that you practically control all of the mercenaries in the Free Marches?" Marian was very well informed it seemed and that was a good thing. Although the information she knew was probably general knowledge by now.

"They forgot a lot of things. Like how Kirkwall is also our main Base of Operations in the Free Marches but, whatever, one less nuisance to worry about, right Aveline?" She only gave me a shake of her head as a response. As long as she wasn't shouting at me, I considered it good. "Anyway, why don't we get a drink and catch up? I want to know what my friends have been up to for the past,"

"Year," Bethany supplied helpfully.

"Yes, let's do that. There's a place nearby called The Hanged Man: A decent pub with drinks that taste like piss but with great atmosphere. What do you say?"

"I'm still on duty Vasili, I'll have to reschedule." Without another word, Aveline walked back towards High town to probably write a report about how things had settled. The Hawkes had nothing better to do so they easily agreed. After giving some last orders to my generals, I led them to the pub.

**XXXXXX**

We talked for hours.

I mostly listened to their misadventures, 'ooh'-ing at some parts and laughing at others. The three were more animated than when we arrived in Kirkwall. It would seem that without the one year of servitude, the Hawkes were able to benefit from their hard works faster than in the game. Not only did they have their mansion back but they also made quite a name for themselves.

Gamlen had cleaned up quite well, a man worthy to carry the Amell name and with Leandra, they played the political games in the Viscount's Keep. All in all, they had made a home in Kirkwall and even though the Blight had ended in Ferelden, this was their home now.

I told them about what I had been up to. Creating Dead Cell and spreading my influence through the Free Marches. They asked me about the jobs I took and I happily obliged them. I did have to omit a few unsavoury jobs I had to take to further my goals as well as keep quiet about how I freely manipulated people who got in my way. I also didn't tell them about the side effects I suffered through using the more subtle aspects of my powers.

And that's what we did throughout the night. We drank and talked and drank some more. I was happy to get away from all the stress, even for one day. Commanding your own army was fun but frayed the nerves something terrible. Even though Meredith's nightly comfort did help alleviate some of the stress, there was nothing like a good old drink with your friends to help ease your burdens.

"You guys are drunk," I laughed at how Carver was already unconscious, face down on the table. Marian just laughed and spilled her drink all over her brother. Bethany was leaning heavily on my side but I didn't protest, just like how she didn't mind how my hand was roaming her firm belly.

"Hey Vas," I turned to look at Bethany, her cheeks red and eyes glazed. She was as drunk as her siblings no doubt and the way she was looking at me was very distracting. "I've missed you," she said simply before going in for a never reached me since she fell unconscious on my armoured chest. I sighed and laughed at that before looking at Bethany who was eying me curiously, the drunken demeanour disappearing from her face entirely.

"You've been quite busy," Marian started as she looked into the depths of her drink, "It's surprising that you would create your own mercenary company, much less one that's spread all over the continent. I'd have thought you would aim for a simple and quiet life, judging by how Beth described how you were back in Kirkwall."

"People like us are trouble magnets. I'm just making sure I don't get caught with my pants down when trouble finally finds us."

With both Carver and Bethany down for the count, Marian and I talked for the remainder of the night. For the first time since meeting her, I noticed something off about the protagonist of DA 2. Was she always so, how do I put this, cruel?

She would describe a job they would do but would put in too much detail in how she killed one man or how she tortured another. What did this mean? Was she considered a renegade in this dimension? I always played my characters as the good guys in the first play through before going bad guy. There was something else though. When she was describing these certain parts of her stories, she would look me straight in the eye. It didn't feel disturbing but I think she was looking for a specific reaction from me and it seemed that she always found it. No idea what she found though since I didn't particularly like gore filled stories too much. Hell, I never watched the rest of the SAW movie franchise after the second one.

At three in the morning, I helped her carry Bethany and Carver back to their estate. I created a wagon so that we didn't have to shoulder them the whole way.

**XXXXXX**

It was the start of my second year in Kirkwall when an interesting and long awaited contract found its way on my desk. A dwarf from the merchant guild named Bartrand Tethras was interested in hiring Dead Cell for a security detail to an extended trip into the Deep Roads. Messere Bartrand wrote in his letter that the expedition would only succeed if the best in the protection business would agree to accompany them. Although the details were listed in the letter, he wanted to meet in person to iron out anything else.

Location of the meeting: Tethras Estate

I didn't bring anyone else with me, not my men, generals or my friends. This was going to be a business deal with a man who doubled the Tethras family fortune when he was fifteen. He was driven and ambitious and nothing was going to stop him from rebuilding his family name. Too bad he'll try to stab us in the back later on, we could have been friends.

I walked through the High town markets wearing my rarely worn finery. I never wear 'normal' clothes anymore and I much preferred my armour or my shadows. I was only wearing them now since looking like a pauper would make a bad first impression on the man who wanted to hire me and my company.

People in the markets waved and greeted me as I passed. I was quite well known now in Kirkwall, not because of Dead Cell but because of my _family _name. After all, a noble on the other side of the world is still a noble here as long as you had the money. I not only had the money to be a noble, I was overflowing with gold, but Manah was the Grand Cleric of the Anderfels. The Chantry was an authority anywhere and I being the sibling of a Grand Cleric was noteworthy to those who wanted to have my favour.

In ten minutes of normal paced walking, I arrived at the estate and saw someone I hoped to see. There, leaning on the front door with an apple in hand was Varric. He wore the same thing you would see later on when Hawke would run into him and had Bianca slinging from his back.

"You must be Serrah Attano," Varric says as he catches sight of me, "You're right on schedule!" He offered me his hand for a shake which I took. As I expected he had a really strong grip, "The name's Varric Tethras, at your service!"

"Vasili Attano, and from what your brother wants, I will be at _your_ service in the near future."

"Ha! Depending whether or not your reputation holds true! Tell me," Here Varric Is leans in if he was about to tell me a secret. I play along and lean down a bit, "Is it true that you founded the Dead Cell mercenary company? The one that didn't even exist a year ago and now is the biggest and, most surprisingly; only Chantry endorsed mercenary company in Thedas?"

"I don't know about being the biggest company anywhere else, but biggest in the Free Marches," I was lying. I've already sent Sun Downer, Grom and Sin Kaiser to different parts of the planet to buy out the other mercenary groups. They were accompanied by at least half a thousand men to help train any new members or to put down anyone who did not accept our offer. "And also true for the second question. We are the only mercenary who has ever, in history, had the permission and the blessing of the Chantry as well as the Templar order to offer our services."

"How does one get the blessings of the Chantry anyway?" Varric asks as he scratches his face stubble.

"It's pretty easy when your sister is a Grand Cleric and all," Varric laughed at that and so did I. My first impression of him was a laid back kind of guy. He was easy to get along with that's for sure. We made small talk as both of us made our way to Bartrand's room/office.

I'm just going to skip the part where I introduce myself to him and he introduces himself, blah blah blah. That whole three hours was filled with business talks and the details of what he wanted me to do. Of course he told me had to inform me about the Deep Roads being infested with all kinds of nastiness. Worst of them was the Darkspawn. I told him it was of no consequence since I had my fair share of dealing with this world's versions of zombies.

Of course the neutral tone I said that with led to Bartrand wanting proof of how good Dead Cell was if I claimed that even Darkspawn was no problem for us. I replied with a demonstration of my powers. I summoned my armour and the sight of the shadows slowly creeping up my body and forming into the Didact's armour got both brothers jaws to drop. I also demonstrated the offensive capabilities of my powers and after that demonstration Bartrand was happy to hire me.

And that's how I got into the Deep Roads Expedition. All I needed to do now was to wait for Hawke to collect enough money to become a partner for the expedition. Even though they had reclaimed the former glory of the Amell name in the two years since arriving in Kirkwall, fifty sovereigns was still a large amount for anyone to just give away.

**XXXXXX**

Holy shit have I been really acting like that for the past two years? I cannot handle absolute power at all. Two years and I'm already building a not-so-secret army that could rival the Blight in its scale? Talk about letting the power go to my head! Maybe I should turn off the god mode cheat for a while, or better yet don't alter anything else in the storyline. From t=everything that I've done, something is bound to bite me in the ass down the road.

Seriously, I created an army, me? A gamer who hadn't even graduated college yet and still lived with his parents (not actually unusual in the Philippines, but you get the idea) created a mercenary company that spanned half of Thedas? I'm mind controlling people to get my way and killing anyone who got in my way. I'm turning into one of those characters who acts like one of the good guys in the beginning of the season but turn out to be the biggest backstabber in the whole series. I probably won't, but what happens if the situation is like Dante and Vergil in DmC? The big bad are dead and nothing else would stand in my way for complete domination but then my friends would rise up again to try and stop me. Time to wind down the evil furnace and go back to just enjoying the fact that I'm in a video game. Everything has gone way too serious for my tastes!

A few weeks after all that mess, I decided to just walk around Kirkwall and see the sights spend some down time doing absolutely nothing. I will enjoy walking around the city with nothing but a small wheel of cheese in one hand, a loaf of bread in the other and a litre of apple cider tucked into one of my coat pockets. I'm still going to bring and wear my gauntlets of course; I'm not that much of an idiot.

Motto for the day: Let everyone handle their own mess.

I found a nice, cosy spot in the gallows. The view was overlooking the entrance to the city and I could just watch the boats go in and out. It was calm and I was finally relaxing a bit. By the way, they really make good cheese here, believe it or not.

I take a bite out of the bread and a bit of the cheese.

Yup, nothing like basking in the knowledge of being sent into a video game to relax the mind and body. A few people, city folk, City Guards and Templars pass by where I was sitting without a second glance, because today I'm just another face in the crowd.

I take a sip from the cold bottle of apple cider.

I wonder if Hawke is already collecting money for the expedition. Did she meet up with everyone else: Anders, Merrill, Isabela, Fenris, and Sebastian? Will they take me along to meet everyone else? I wonder what Bethany is doing? I wonder what Meredith was doing?

Ok, this was more boring than I expected.

Back to work and being evil and shit…

**XXXXXX**

Ok, back on track. I'll try and avoid using game knowledge to get ahead in this dimension and stick to following Hawke and the gang. All this altering major points and leading a whole army is turning me into a bad guy.

I never knew that even the smallest game details you find in codex entries could have such a huge impact here. Knowledge is power here; even the smallest detail of a background character can change everything. And after two years of nothing but that and forgetting why I was here in the first place… Well I'll leave my subordinates with it for now.

I was walking through High town in full armour, on my way to visit Bartrand and Varric to reconfirm when exactly we were leaving for the Deep Roads. It had been what, a week or two? Since we last spoke and I haven't heard of anything from them or Hawke yet. But my informants did say that Bartrand was already scraping the bottom of the barrel in funding this expedition so Hawke would be meeting up with him pretty soon…

"No! Andraste's tits, human! You know how many people want to hire onto this expedition?"

… Or it was happening now. Hm, were they waiting for me or something? Was this one of those area activated events, wherein you have to be there for it to start? I turned a corner to see Marian and Bethany and Carver following a raging Bartrand.

"But we heard you're going into the Deep Roads. Surely you'll need all the help you can-" Bethany tried to reason but the dwarf easily spoke over her. Why was Bartrand so pissy anyways? Have the Hawkes been badgering him the whole day or was it the thought that he would be broke even before going into the Deep Roads? He was probably tapping into what remained of his family fortune to supply this trip.

"No! You're too late! Already done! This is the sort of venture that can make a man for life! I'm not about to take my chances hiring random humans!" It was Carver this time to try and convince the Dwarf as he stepped directly in front of Bartrand to halt his march.

"We've fought and killed Darkspawn. How many of your hired men can say the same?" At that point I actually thought that Bartrand was going to acquiesce to their pleading, but all he did was duck under Carver's legs and continued on his way. I actually laughed at that.

"Get in line, human. Half of Kirkwall wants to be my best friend right now. You're looking for a quick way out of the slums, right? You and every other Fereldan in this dump, find another meal ticket." I didn't plan on stepping into this confrontation but Bartrand had better eyesight than I thought because he quickly spotted me leaning beside one of the gigantic Dwarven statues littered around the courtyard here. "Vas, there you are you good for nothing, nug-humping topsider! I hired you for your security, so do your job and secure!" He points a finger to the Hawke family and the three of them stop when they see me.

"Calm down, Bartrand. I know them," He just stalks off muttering under his breathe while I approach the siblings. Marian and Bethany were happy enough to see me and Carver was friendly enough to give me a nod in greeting.

"Well, well, what have we here? I haven't seen you troublemakers in a while."

"Not for the lack of trying," Carver says with a heavy sigh. I notice that he changed from a Great Sword like Marian into a sword and shield combo. Bethany wore the gloves I gave her, so I didn't know if she changed her staff or anything. Marian, from the looks of things, had a brand new Great Sword. She wore a set of medium plated armour in dark colours while Carver wore a set of Heavy armour. Bethany didn't wear a mages robe, instead a set of civilian clothing lined with hard leather, chain mail as well as steel plates. You wouldn't notice it at first glance but on closer inspection the set did look pretty heavy. I'm guessing she was still taking my blending-in lessons seriously. "The past year has been harder than when we first came to Kirkwall. Apparently, everyone's been making use of Dead Cell's services and that doesn't leave a lot of jobs for freelancers like us." Carver gives me a pointed glare and I actually laughed a little sheepishly at that.

"Sorry about that, but I did tell you lot were welcome in Dead Cell! We could really use people with your skills and talent of getting every job done." I did try offering them jobs. You'd think that reclaiming their names would help them in the money department, but Gamlen practically bled their fortunes dry by the time we got here. They were making enough money to get by I guess; Food, Water, City tax and anything in between. But, I guess I sucked up all the other jobs that they were getting desperate. I mean, that was my tactic, actually, so that other bands would come to me. I guess I forgot about the Hawkes.

"Look," Wait, if I tell them how to get into Bartrand's good graces or if I give them the money to become partners, then they won't be able to meet with any of the other companions. But what should I tell them, then? I look around the courtyard and see the redheaded pickpocket near a side alley. So Varric would just be around the corner then, right? "Go that way," I tell them.

"Why?" Carver asks

"You want to know how to get Bartrand's approval; you have to go that way."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Carver argues

"Can you just take my fucking word for it?! When the fuck did I ever lie to you, you little piece of-!" Deep calm breathes, in through the nose, out through the mouth. I _did_ notice that my patience was shot to shit and I was more aggressive then I was two years ago. I would have never snapped at anyone that bad back when I was still in Earth. I turn to look at both Marian and Bethany before saying, "Trust me"

Thankfully both the girls agree easily enough and soon I'm watching events I've seen dozens of times unfold right before my eyes. The redhead still bumps into Marian and steals her coin purse and Varric saves the day by shooting the thief in the shoulder and pinning him to a wall.

"I once knew a guy who could take every coin out of your pockets just by smiling at you. But you? You don't have the style to work High town, let alone the Merchant's Guild. Might want to find yourself a new line of work..." Varric easily rips the coin purse out of the thief's hands before punching him out cold. With a casual toss from over his shoulder, the coin purse flies into Marian's waiting hands. "How do you do? Varric Tethras, at your service! I apologize for Bartrand. He wouldn't know an opportunity if it hit him square in the jaw," Marian easily takes the offered hand into her own and quirks the side of her lip at the dwarf.

"And you would?" she asks plainly. Strange, I could easily tell what a person was thinking about just by how they moved or by the tone of their voice. When it came to Marian, she was a total blank though. I couldn't predict anything about her for some reason. Maybe it was because she was the main character in this little adventure and therefore special? Maybe I wasn't really all that good at reading people?

"I would! What my brother doesn't realize is that we need someone like you. He would never admit it, either- he's too proud. I, however, am quite practical."

"What makes you so certain we can help? You know nothing about us."

"On the contrary, you've made quite the name for yourself over the last year. Serving with groups such as the Red Iron as well as well as Athendril is no mean feat! You made them powerful two years ago, enough for the coterie to be worried! That is, until Dead Cell came along and absorbed all three of them into their own guild, so to speak. But, judging by that warm greeting you got from the great and mysterious 'Mercenary King', Vas over there, I daresay that you might also be the reason he was as successful as he is." _That_ was my epithet? Mercenary King, really, I am quite disappointed. I would have thought my byname would be something with 'shadow' in it or better yet 'darkness? Mercenary King was _kinda _cool too, but I expected something that would strike fear in the hearts of my enemies.

"If you've heard about me, then you've heard about my brother and sister as well?"

"Sadly, I have heard only a little. I did hear that your brother is a quite the beast on the battlefield with that sword of his and your sister's… talents are spoken well of. The name 'Hawke' is on many lips these days!"

"Frankly, I'd rather you get the credit." She crosses her arms defensively, but aside from that she doesn't make anything obvious.

"I assure you Madame; your secrets are safe with me!" Varric gives a flourishing bow, complete with a friendly grin. Nice guy, reminds me of the 'Imp' from Games of Thrones. Or does the Imp remind me of Varric?

"You're part of Bartrand's venture?" Marian says evenly. She looks at Varric with a raised brow and a small quirk on the right side of her lip. She already likes Varric it seems and Bethany is slowly warming up to the guy. Carver's as guarded as ever. He's like that with me as well even though we've known each other for two years, five months and seven days already, but who's counting? He only trusts his family and anything that's not gets full blown paranoid suspicion for all eternity. I get where he's coming from, losing everything he knew back in Ferelden and starting from the bottom here with no one you know aside from family, plus me and Aveline, will drive some people into being protective. That's fine with me; I only really need Marian, Bethany and everyone else's approval. Carver and I can be suspicious of each other until he dies and I get thrown into another dimension, hopefully.

"That's right! The Deep Roads wouldn't normally be my thing, but I can't allow the head of our family to go down there alone. So as you might imagine, I have more than a passing interest in the expedition's success,"

"There must be some way to persuade your brother to hire us on,"

"We don't need another hireling we need a partner! We have all the security we need from Dead Cell. The truth is, Bartrand's been tearing his beard out trying to fund this on his own, but he can't do it. Invest in the expedition. Fifty sovereigns and he can't refuse. Not with me there to vouch for you,"

"Why would you stick your neck out for a complete stranger?" That was Carver this time, not Marian.

"I'd rather take a chance on someone with your reputation than head into the Deep Roads unprepared. And besides, we'd be your partners. I'm willing to give a little trust if you are,"

"Your brother doesn't seem like the sort who's willing to split profits."

"My brother is many things, but he's not stupid; far better to share the profits than be trapped in a Thaig with a thousand Darkspawn between you and the exit. Trust me. He'll come around."

"It sounds interesting, but if I had any gold, I wouldn't need this job."

"You need to think big! There's only a brief window after the Blight when the Deep Roads won't be crawling with Darkspawn. The treasure you find down there could set you and your family up for life!"

At that statement, the siblings turn to each other and speak in quiet tones, obviously deciding whether or not to do as Varric says. Of course, Marian always had the final say. She turned back to Varric and said, "It won't be easy, but it's a chance. I think we have to take it."

"Better to work our way into this expedition than sit around waiting for something interesting to happen." Bethany says happily. It was obvious she was all for going into the Deep Roads.

"I still think this is too much of a risk to chance. What happens if we don't find anything there? What if all the coin we collected was for nothing! We'd be better off just keeping the gold to ourselves!" And it was obvious as well that Carver was against the idea.

"We work together, you and me, and before you know it, you'll have all the capital you need. What do you say?"

Marian looks at both her siblings one last time, meeting each other's eyes before she gave a nod and turned back to Varric, "It's not like we had anything better planned."

"Perfect! Kirkwall's crawling with work. You set aside some coin from every job, and you'll have the money in no time!"

Game knowledge kicks in again and through my play through, I think I remember that even if you take on all the jobs available you'll still come up short by a few sovereigns. That doesn't even take into account how I'm sucking up all the money. I could give them all the money they needed right now, but then they wouldn't meet the other companions. The Deep Roads Expedition would be rolling in about two to three months, it took a lot of time to map out a route and without Anders' maps then it would really take that long. With his maps, we would be on our way in a month. I retrieve a small pouch from my belt and with a loud 'hey!' and tosses, the Hawke's are now twenty sovereigns richer. Hopefully that would be enough to help boost their funds.

Hopefully their pride wouldn't stop them from asking me for jobs. I'll just go wait and see if they want me to tag along in their job hunt.

**I had to cut it off here. Next chapter is going to be very long.**

**Leave a review and tell me your thoughts on this, or if you're busy how about a word or smile to tell me that you enjoyed my fic? Constructive criticism is appreciated and any misspelled word or wrong grammar you find, please tell me so that I can fix it. :)**

**Also, if you don't like the story, then that's alright with me but please do not take the time to send something negative my way.**

**Have a question, ask and I'll try to answer as soon as I am able to but know that the questions you have will probably be answered in the next chapters.**

**Chapter 4 would be late, since I won't be able to access my computer for a week.**

**Until chapter 4 then, next weekend as always…**

**Bye **


	4. Chapter 4

**I really wanna finish this story. This story will be a starting point to multiple other crossovers. Ever since playing Bioshock: Infinite, I really wanted to write a self-insert there, or a crossover, whatever.**

**Ok, here's where I catch a snag. I never really download the DLC's and usually wait until the game of the year edition comes out so I only have to buy the thing once. Did a DA2 game of the year or legendary edition come out? Because I've never come across one and I have never played the DLC's.**

**I'm sorry if you guys want to see Sebastian in here, but I don't know his character. Watching YouTube videos or reading his character up isn't the same as playing with him in the game. If I try to put him in here, I'll just yuck up his character.**

**And, I'm sorry as well for updating so late. Exams kicked my ass these last few weeks and my brain powers were focused on passing my courses. I'm really trying to crank these babies out but long bouts of inactivity really suck away inspiration and shit.**

**Also Game of Thrones, that shit will drag you into its awesome.**

I desperately needed the internet.

Not because of anything trivial like checking my email, or logging into Facebook or 9gagging. No, I needed the internet because I can't fucking remember what happens next after Hawke accepts to collect fifty gold sovereigns to become a partner in the Expedition. I can't remember what mission they have to go on to meet this companion or what we need to do to earn their loyalty…

… Ok, so maybe I'd like to check on Facebook, 9gag and YouTube as well… I'd also like to check if any video games that got released while I was here.

I wish I had the chance to print out the entire Dragon Age wiki before coming here, which would have helped me a lot! Maybe I can ask Manah for an inter-dimensional laptop with a fast internet connection? Why not, right? How did the other self-insert authors deal with this anyway? Memorizing every event in the game they were thrust into. I mean, I can remember the most important events in a game, but not everything!

I was forced out of my inner monologue when amethyst coloured eyes locked on my own brown ones. Sin Kaiser was looking at me with a raised platinum eyebrow. The Dalish elf was usually quiet and even with me she only spoke when she needed to. Today she wore light plated armour with red leather covering the sections of her body not protected by armour. Two daggers were sheathed at her hips as well as her back, each pair a different design.

"What?" I asked her after taking in her appearance. Sin took her time to shift to her other foot before replying to my question.

"There have been a few developments," She said before tossing a sealed scroll on top of my desk. The action caused a few loose articles of paper to fly off which in turn made me scowl. I hated paperwork more than anything else! And messed up paper work which I meticulously sorted and piled was the worst kind! But the elf seemed to not have noticed my souring mood when she began her report, "The Hawkes have been tackling jobs all over the city; from simple odd jobs to bounty hunting. Whatever they needed to do to get the gold needed for the expedition I suppose." While she spoke, I snapped off the seal before unrolling the scroll. It was an account, a very detailed account, of the Hawkes activities for the past few weeks. Timetables of their daily activities were written on the piece of paper. Whoever the scout was spared nothing of his or her observations. It was like I was reading a story with how well written it was.

"Who wrote this?" I asked as I used my right hand to dig through the right hand drawer of my desk.

"One of our newest recruits did. I have to say I was impressed myself with how well he did this report." Sin easily caught the bag of coins I tossed her way. She jiggled the bag a bit before raising a brow again.

"Effort needs to be rewarded its due. A dozen sovereigns for whoever did this," I said simply before shooing her out of my office so I could read the report in private.

**XXXXXX**

During one of my skirmishes with _another _mercenary group that tried to take me out, I found out a rather disturbing, or interesting, feature to my power.

Now, usually I go for the long ranged opponents before anything else. That meant I kill the mages and rogues first. Rogues were an especially annoying bunch. Each one could find that small chink in your armour and exploit it for all it was worth. And the rogues with Bows were fucking snipers here. Thank the divines that I always commission new and stronger armour anytime I could. If I hadn't, then the arrow that struck my metal neck brace would have spelled my death.

Sorry, Got off track there for a second. What was I saying again?

Oh, right, and interesting feature I found out about my shadow magic was that prolonged exposure to intense heat solidifies the things. I only found out about this recently because I usually kill the caster before they could push me in a corner. But this time I found myself tested as one of the mage's from the group that tried to kill me went full flamethrower with his staff. On instinct, I created a barrier between us and held the fucker off as my guys killed everyone else.

After one finally think it best to stab the guy in the throat, I stop sustaining the shadow wall, only to find out that the thing actually crystalized! Like, holy shit what was that about right? I took back the 7 foot tall and 7 foot wide shadow wall back to base and asked Sun Downer to look at the thing and check if there was anything special about it.

Solidified darkness, I wonder what I could use it for?

Anyways, Sun Downer said that it would take him the better part of the week to figure this stuff out. So I guess I should find the Hawkes and help them raise the required gold to become a partner in the expedition.

I wonder who they went for first. Anders would be the most logical for me since we need his Grey Warden skills and maps of the Deep Roads.

So first stop today would be… that Ferelden relief area right? The one in Low town methinks.

**XXXXXX**

Oh, it's called Lirene's Ferelden Imports! Don't I feel a bit silly now?

Also, good thing I decided to go here post haste because I can see Hawke, Bethany, and Varric and… wait is that Merrill? They went to Sundermount without me, what? Dick-move, Marian. I wanted to see Flemeth one more time damn it!

Carver is nowhere to be seen so he was either back in their manse or doing something else. I follow them into the building and find that the place was full of people. They were refugees by the looks of them, all dirty and hungry looking. Makes me sad just looking at them… Hawke and the gang are somehow at the front of the shop already while I try to manoeuvre around all these people.

"If you've got coin to spare, we won't turn it down. Donations go in the box up front." A woman, probably Lirene, said to Hawke as she did five other things at the same time. I guess you have to be able to multi-task to be able to help all these people. "Anything else you need?"

"I hear you know where I can find a Fereldan Grey Warden." The slight narrowing of the shopkeepers eyes give her away instantly and I wonder if Hawke saw it as well. This gal was about to lie.

"Only Fereldan Grey Warden I've heard of is sitting on the throne… We're out of the Blight's path now. Why would you need a Grey Warden?"

"The Healer was one of them, wasn't he, a Warden?" A female refugee standing beside me said aloud. Lirene gave the girl the stink eye before sighing in frustration.

"Well, he's not now. And busy enough without answering fool questions about it."

"Who are you protecting?"

"You see what our people face in Kirkwall. They have no jobs, no homes. Most can barely buy bread. This healer, he serves them without thought for coin. He's closed their wounds, delivered their children."

"He sounds very busy. We won't be any trouble, we promise," Merrill says. She sounds super cute by the way and not too bad on the eyes either. She had that petite thing going on for her that I could appreciate.

"He's a good man. I won't lose him to the blighted Templars," Lirene says.

"You mean he's a mage?" That was Bethany who was asking by the way. She was still wearing the special gloves I gave her that hid her staff, which was good. She wore armour plates over her usual attire now though. Her hair wasn't flowing in the wind anymore since she decided to tie it up in a short ponytail. Marian had no problem with that since her hair was cut boyish-short-but-still-hot-for-her-kind-of-way.

"Would I stick my neck out for some purveyor of hen's bane and leeches?"

"We would never turn someone over to the Templars, Mistress. Never," Bethany says.

"He doesn't want to be locked in the Gallows just for using the gifts the Maker gave him."

"Your healer is in no danger from us,"

"No mage should be persecuted because of a gift given to them at birth," Bethany says with conviction. It was good to know that my lessons of appreciating her powers stuck till now.

"I suppose it isn't my secret to keep. Anders has certainly been free enough with his services. Refugees in Dark town know to find the healer, look for the lit lantern. If you have need enough, Anders will be within," Lirene says. I guess that's my queue to announce my presence.

"Heyo"

All of them, and I mean everyone in the building just stops and looks at me. Lirene's eyes actually widen a bit as if she didn't believe that she missed seeing a fully armoured six foot tall individual walk into her establishment. I bet it's also because she recognizes who I was. In fact, everyone recognizes me since I wear the same set of armour everywhere I go. The Didact's armour is both intimidating and bad ass, remember?

"Vas, what are you doing here?" That was Marian asking, a slight quirk to her lips and a raised eyebrow. Was my greeting funny or was she not just expecting it from someone like me? Whatevs

"Got bored in the office and decided to hook up with you guys. Sup Varric, how's it hanging?"

"Uhm, it's a good day to you to?" Ha, confused the dwarf. The only people who were happy, or interested, to see me were Bethany and Merrill. Bethany was my best bud so of course she'd be happy to see me. Merrill looks like a child who just discovered a new toy, with eyes shining and a smile so full of pure innocence it was blinding.

"And here I thought you were too busy with controlling Thedas to visit your lowly friends?" She gave me a quick hug and so did Marian. I bumped fists with Varric, after teaching him how to and the purpose behind it, and rubbed Merrill's head lie you would a kid's.

"A dictator always has time to visit the people he had to step on to get to the top! How's it going trouble makers? Any luck with the whole expedition thing?"

"We've got the money and then some, all we really need now is the maps as well as a guide to the Deep Roads. The damned place is a maze of Darkspawn and other such nasty's." So did Marian meet with the other companions already or something? I really need to stay with these guys more often lest I miss the whole fucking game since I'm busy trying to take over the whole world. Why am I doing this anyway, why am I expanding? What's the significance of my actions? What the fuck?

Probably because there wasn't any internet to occupy my time anymore…

"So you're looking for Anders, the Grey Warden in Dark town right; the mage helping anyone for free?" I had to wait through another moment of all their eyes widening before asking the obligatory question. Although Merrill's eyes widened in joy rather than shock though, cutie. "Guys, you forget that I have my people scattered throughout the whole world! Of course I'll know things like that! Information is power and all that!"

"Why in the maker's name didn't you tell us about it then? We've been running around Kirkwall for weeks trying to find a lead about any Grey Warden in the city!"

"You didn't ask! How was I supposed to know what you guys were up to?"

"I thought were supposed to know things like this! You just said a few seconds ago you had your soldiers all over the city keeping tabs on everything!"

"What, and spy on my friends? I don't want to butt into your privacy! That would be an asshole move in my part!"

"It's not butting into someone's privacy if it ends up helping your friends in the end!"

"You're just turned on by how much power I have and projecting your sexual tension on to me!" No idea where that came from but that _did _shut everyone up in the building. Marian's mouth closed so quickly that her teeth actually clicked together. Bethany looks embarrassed as well, blushing up so hard that her face was as red as an apple. Varric was trying to hold back his laughter at the whole thing. Merrill had both hands over her mouth as if she was scandalized or something, again pretty cute.

"Now then, can I show you where this Grey Warden is now before things get more awkward or should I just go back to the office?"

"Ooh, I like him. He's like a box of surprises, never knowing what to expect when you open it!" I looked at Merrill for a heartbeat before hugging her.

"You are just too darned cute!" She is… she is very cute. Bioware didn't do her real life cuteness any justice.

**XXXXXX**

As expected, again, the people who overheard us talking about Anders meet us outside. They weren't fully armoured and their weapons were in poor condition and none of them looked like they got into any real fights or battles in their lives. I actually felt sorry for these guys, desperate enough to lay down their lives like this. Once they saw us, they drew their knives, daggers and swords.

"We heard you asking about the healer! We know what happens to mages in this town. And it ain't gonna happen to him."

"I'm as Ferelden as you are. We won't harm the healer."

The leader looked shocked for a bit, before he turned to look at his companions who all looked unsure now. Fereldan? But... you, your clothes... I figured you for a Kirkwaller. Sorry. Maker bless the rule of our King Alistair." As simple as that the whole group left, all twelve of the rag tag group.

_Note to self, send some gold and some men to help these refugees. As evil as I'm becoming, I can't let these people suffer like this! I have the power and resources to make their lives better so why shouldn't I?_

…

_Should I?_

…

_Shouldn't I?_

…

_I shouldn't_

…

_I should_

…

_I should_

XXXXXX

"The refugees live here? It's almost enough to make me grateful for uncle Gamlen," Bethany says as she tries to fight off the smell with a covered hand.

I always hated Dark town. It smelled really bad and I get ornery when one of my senses gets bombarded with something bad. The smell of piss and shit and other unmentionable things that fucking move by their own, it was like one of those haunted house attractions you'd find in theme parks every so often. You didn't know if a giant spider would jump out or a guy with a knife would stab you in the back.

Very exciting, believe me.

Of course, the guys with knives were smart enough not to mess with five fully armed and hyper-lethal individuals. But there were idiots that were prime exceptions to the rule, like the Carta thugs and mercenaries roaming the sewers looking for easy prey. They came at us in a rush, maybe twenty heavily armed thugs running down a narrow corridor. The Hawkes, Varric and Merrill were about to unleash hell on them when I just snapped my fingers and the shadows on both side of the corridors exploded outwards into spikes and skewering all the baddies.

"Don't have all day gents, follow me please."

We made our way down the stairs, up another and then sideways as we approached the corner of Dark town where Anders' Clinic was located in. The whole underground town was ten times bigger than the one you explore in the game and the whole thing was divided by levels. The deeper you go in Dark town the worse it will get. Luckily Anders was located between levels two and three, not the most dangerous area in Dark town but deep enough for the Templars to not poke their noses in.

"Tomwise?"

"Huh? Oh... Hawke, haven't seen you since Meeran hired me for that Red Iron job. Been a while, Heard you're going on some expedition into the Deep Roads, and right into Darkspawn territory. Sure that's wise?"

"We can't all make a living in the Undercity,"

"Just watch your back, that's all I'm saying. Say... you still in the market for some poisons? The Red Iron's been scarce, and business has been a little slow. You find any reagents and want me to whip you up something, just let me know. In fact, since you're an old friend, here's a recipe, my speciality. Everyone needs an edge sometimes, right?"

FYI, I kinda hate Anders after what he did to spark the fight between Mages and Templars. I would have approved if he didn't involve innocent people in the disaster he pulled off in the Chantry.

"I have made this place a sanctum of healing and salvation. Why do you threaten it?" Apparently the mage was ready for us. He had his staff in hand and was radiating power like crazy. Hopefully the idiot would burn himself out but that was just wishful thinking.

"We're just here to talk." Marian said as she raised both hands defensively.

Sadly I kinda zoned out during the conversation since my burning hate for Anders was clouding my thinking process and… I don't understand what happened next really.

One moment I was watching Marian and Bethany talk to Anders and the next thing you know I was holding down by the head with my foot and my great sword poised to cut his head off. Everyone was freaking out, telling me to let the only guy who knew the Deep Roads go because if he was dead then the expedition would be bust.

But why am I following the flow of things till now? I thought I set a goal to change things, mix them up and the like? Make things easier to manipulate and all that? I mean I could lead the expedition myself, right? With my power, probably a God Mode cheat, and the ability to not stay dead I could just wing it right? Fuck everything else and carve my own path.

I look down at Anders and then back to Hawke and the rest of the group. I look to my sword and then back down to Anders.

In the Immortal words of Heath Ledger's Joker:

"Introduce a little Anarchy and upset the established order, right? Sure why not!"

I swing down.

**End**

**But the question is; did I do it?**

**I'm going to be honest with you guys. I won't be able to stay with the weekly updates but I'll try to make a regular schedule. Maybe every three weeks perhaps to a month. As I said before, I want to finish this to pave the way to other crossovers.**


End file.
